Recaps

Yang Lingqing offered Liu Zihao a place as the Yang Family’s resident formation master and gave him the Spirit Crystals to end his Formation Pavilion contract. Liu Zihao went to the Pavilion to terminate it, where Zou Yu appeared to confront him.

• Yang Lingqing confirmed through Zhao Qi and Gao Hui that the Dynasty had cleared Liu Zihao of involvement in the Wangyue City matter and planned to clear his name.
• Yang Lingqing invited Liu Zihao to join the Yang Family as its resident formation master and offered to pay the four thousand Spirit Crystals needed to end his contract.
• Liu Zihao accepted the offer, thanked Yang Lingqing, and set off for the Formation Pavilion with the Spirit Crystals.
• At the Formation Pavilion, a junior formation master blocked Liu Zihao from going upstairs, and Liu Zihao announced that he wanted to terminate his contract.
• As Liu Zihao stepped onto the stairs, Zou Yu came down from the second floor and called for him to wait.

Liu Zihao terminated his contract with the Formation Pavilion and left with his Spirit Crystals, but two Seventh Level Qi Gathering cultivators ambushed him on the way to Pine Mountain. Yang Lingrui killed the attackers and rescued him, reinforcing Liu Zihao’s confidence in joining the Yang Family.

• Liu Zihao demanded to terminate his contract, silenced Zou Yu’s protests by displaying four thousand Spirit Crystals, and received his contract from the elder.
• Zou Yu left the Formation Pavilion for an unnamed shop, and two ordinary-looking cultivators later departed the marketplace through the eastern gate.
• Liu Zihao headed toward Pine Mountain, unaware that two Seventh Level Qi Gathering cultivators were pursuing him.
• The two cultivators cornered Liu Zihao and said someone had hired them to take his hands and feet.
• Yang Lingrui emerged from hiding and killed both attackers, then helped Liu Zihao to his feet.
• Liu Zihao recognized Yang Lingrui and marveled at his cultivation and fighting ability.

Liu Zihao designed and helped the Yang Family complete five interconnected formations that protected its lands from harsh weather and drew migrants to Pine Mountain. As the Yang Family grew prominent, Pan Baolu and Huang Yan arrived seeking an audience.

• On the journey back, Liu Zihao learned from Yang Lingrui that Zou Yu had likely sent the attackers, and Yang Lingrui urged him to remain kind but act decisively against treacherous people.
• After returning to the Yang Family, Liu Zihao scrapped his old plans and spent three months designing five interconnected formations with combined climate-regulating and protective effects.
• Liu Zihao explained his blueprints to Yang Lingqing, while Chen Yang secretly admired his formation skills.
• With help from Yang Family cultivators and Gao Hui, Liu Zihao completed the five formations after the family spent seventeen thousand Dynasty merit points on materials.
• The formations protected the Yang Family's lands during a severe regional drought, prompting a wave of migration that brought the South Bank's population above twenty thousand.
• Zhao Qi reported that Qinghe Town mayor Pan Baolu and Huang Family patriarch Huang Yan had arrived at the mountain to request an audience.

Yang Lingqing aided Qinghe’s struggling mayor and heard Huang Yan’s plea to protect the Huang Family before its members were sent to the dangerous border. The chapter ended with Huang Yan offering five hundred Spirit Crystals and asking her to have Liu Zihao set up a late-stage formation.

• Liu Zihao’s formation work and He Shenglai’s intervention established the Yang Family as a faction others no longer dared provoke.
• Zhao Qi admitted Pan Baolu and Huang Yan to meet Yang Lingqing at the Yang Family estate.
• Pan Baolu explained Qinghe’s drought-driven financial crisis and requested a loan of two thousand Spirit Crystals.
• Yang Lingqing gave Pan Baolu the money without requiring repayment terms or interest, and he left to help the town.
• Huang Yan presented the Dynasty’s secret order and explained that he and two relatives would soon be sent to the dangerous border.
• Huang Yan offered the Huang Family’s five hundred Spirit Crystals and asked Yang Lingqing to have Liu Zihao build a late-stage formation for his family.

Yang Lingqing used the Yang Family’s strength and Liu Zihao’s formation skills to offer Huang Yan’s lineage protection in exchange for becoming a vassal. Huang Yan eagerly accepted, agreeing to build a Cheng Yang Hall and stone tablet for his family to worship.

• Yang Lingqing considered recruiting vassal lineages now that the Yang Family had the strength, backing, and formation expertise to do so.
• Huang Yan presented five hundred Spirit Crystals and a formation diagram to Yang Lingqing, who summoned Liu Zihao.
• Liu Zihao dismissed the Formation Pavilion’s diagram and offered to redraw it and provide formations for the Huang Family.
• Yang Lingqing told Huang Yan that the formations would cost only the five hundred Spirit Crystals if his family built a Cheng Yang Hall and stone tablet and worshipped them daily.
• Yang Lingqing revealed that the condition made the Huang Family a vassal of the Yang Family, and Huang Yan joyfully accepted.

Yang Lingqing made the Huang Family a vassal of the Yang Family and sent Yang Lingrui with Liu Zihao to establish a formation in Feng Ling. After returning, Yang Lingrui learned that Liang Yi had grown Purple Heaven Flower stamens and encouraged him to let go of his guilt over Yang Linghu’s death.

• Huang Yan agreed to make the Huang Family a vassal in exchange for building a grand hall and stone tablets, and Yang Lingqing sent Yang Lingrui to accompany Liu Zihao to Feng Ling.
• Liu Zihao quickly completed the formation diagram, and he and Yang Lingrui traveled with Huang Yan to establish the formation and explain the sacrificial arrangements.
• Yang Lingqing’s reasons for choosing the Huang Family included its location, its ties to the Bamboo Forest Cultivator, and its influence in Feng Ling.
• Liang Yi greeted Yang Lingrui with the first cluster of Purple Core Flower Stamens from the Purple Heaven Flower, which could improve a cultivator’s chance of breaking through a realm.
• Yang Lingrui told Liang Yi that Yang Linghu’s death was not his fault and urged him to resume cultivating, while Yang Lingqing and the others joined them to thank him for his work.

Over three years, the Yang Family adapted to new alliances and the Dynasty’s purge of regional forces, while Yang Lingqing realized Tiger Chasing was preparing to attack the Eastern Wilderness. Yang Lingrui, Yang Lingshu, and Lü Fangxuan departed for their respective destinations, and Yang Lingqing and Wu Tong reflected on how Yang Yuanhong had grown.

• Liang Yi resumed cultivation, Yang Lingrui entered seclusion with the Purple Core Flower Stamen, and Yang Lingshu settled in Pine Mountain's Forbidden Ground to prepare for the Myriad Transformation Sect.
• After the Huang Family held its first grand sacrifice, Chen Yang received more than eighty strands of prayer power, while Yang Lingqing chose to wait before expanding the Yang Family’s affiliated lineages.
• The Dynasty’s campaign devastated cultivators sent to the borders, but the Yang Family escaped under its protective decree; Yang Lingqing concluded that Tiger Chasing was consolidating its forces before moving against the Eastern Wilderness.
• Yang Lingrui reached the eighth level, while Yang Lingshu reached the third and Lü Fangxuan the second, and the three departed with the Yang Family’s farewells.
• Yang Lingqing saw Yang Yuanhong tending Yang Linghu’s grave and heard him promise to shoulder responsibility, then invited Wu Tong to walk down the mountain and buy him sweet cakes.

Chengtian Academy disciples gathered for the release of the rankings and discussed Li Yuande’s upcoming demonstration of Qi Descent to Essence Condensation. Li Qingwan and Feng Linghua revealed that they both had someone in their hearts, leaving the gathered disciples stunned as Qingwan described her beloved as handsome.

• Chengtian Academy disciples gathered at Dengtian Pavilion to await the rankings and discuss Li Yuande’s approaching demonstration.
• Li Qingwan arrived and declined a fellow disciple’s invitation to watch from the front, saying she was meeting someone.
• Feng Linghua joined Li Qingwan and showed her a painting, then admitted she already had someone in her heart.
• Li Qingwan told the stunned crowd that she had already met someone she loved.
• When Feng Linghua asked what he was like, Li Qingwan bashfully said he was very handsome.

Li Qingwan revealed that she admired someone for his good looks, leaving Shen Yue heartbroken as he realized she already had someone in her heart. When the academy posted its rankings, Li Qingwan found herself twentieth on the Gold Ranking, earning a chance to witness her ancestor's final journey.

• Li Qingwan said she liked someone because he was good-looking, and Shen Yue remembered how she had rejected his invitation and concluded that she already loved someone else.
• Shen Yue told Xiao Man not to disparage Li Qingwan and resolved to meet the person she admired if he got the chance.
• The academy posted its rankings, and Feng Linghua placed twenty-first in the Painting Academy.
• Li Qingwan checked the Gold Ranking and celebrated finding her name, knowing the ranking offered a chance to enter Chongtian Palace and witness the Qi Descent to Essence Condensation ceremony.
• The Gold Ranking placed Shen Yue first and Li Qingwan twentieth, while all Four Great Beauties made the list.

Li Qingwan entered Chengtian Academy’s Gold Ranking, stirring reactions from Shen Yue and Su Lixue. Meanwhile, Yang Lingrui arrived near Chongtian City in disguise to attend the ceremony and reunited with Zi He.

• Li Qingwan made the Gold Ranking, and Shen Yue congratulated her before she left without engaging with Lian Xiaoman’s criticism.
• Su Lixue and Su Lingyun read that Li Qingwan would attend the ceremony and argued about her, Murong Qiuhan, and Ye Lan.
• Yang Lingrui reached the outskirts of Chongtian City, presented his entry documents to a patrol envoy, and received a token allowing him to travel onward.
• Zi He met Yang Lingrui near the city walls and revealed that his eye technique had let him recognize him through his disguise.

Yang Lingrui entered Chongtian City with Zi He and learned that Li Qingwan had secretly fallen for him, though he had never recognized her feelings. The next day, he went to Wangtian Tower to visit He Shenglai.

• Zi He escorted Yang Lingrui through Chongtian City and arranged a Class B independent cave residence for him in Earth District Five.
• Zi He told Yang Lingrui that the martial exposition ceremony would likely use an on-site selection because so many factions had arrived.
• Zi He revealed that Li Qingwan was coming to the city and had quietly set her heart on Yang Lingrui, who was surprised to hear it.
• Zi He asked Yang Lingrui to answer Li Qingwan honestly if she spoke to him about her feelings, and Yang Lingrui promised.
• The next day, Yang Lingrui visited He Shenglai at Wangtian Tower and paid his respects.

Yang Lingrui reviewed the roster for the selection of thirty spectators and traveled toward the Dynasty Martial Academy with He Shenglai. After clashing with Su Lingyun, Yang Lingrui became the target of a deadly order as the selection approached.

• He Shenglai gave Yang Lingrui the selection roster and told him to meet at noon to travel to the Dynasty Martial Academy.
• Yang Lingrui read that 124 cultivators would compete for thirty spectator seats, with Zi He ranked third, Li Qingwan fifteenth, and himself fortieth.
• Su Lingyun approached Yang Lingrui warmly, but He Shenglai intervened and questioned Su Lingyun about missing children near Jingyun Peak.
• He Shenglai and Su Lingyun exchanged threats and released killing intent before Core Formation Cultivators intervened and dispersed them.
• Su Lingyun ordered a guard to promise an Essence Condensation Path to anyone who killed Yang Lingrui during the selection.

Yang Lingrui and Xu Jian'an arrived at the Dynasty Martial Academy to take part in the spectator selection, where they saw powerful cultivators from across the region gather. The first round began with Xia Liheng entering the imitation Martial God Pagoda, and his rapid climb left the other candidates in awe.

• Yang Lingrui and Xu Jian'an greeted one another beneath the academy tower and discussed their chances against disciples from powerful backgrounds.
• Chengtian Academy's group arrived, drawing attention to Li Qingwan and Ye Lan, and the top-ranked Chu Hao, Xia Liheng, and Zi He joined the gathering.
• Hong Guang announced that candidates had to reach the eighth floor of the imitation Martial God Pagoda to advance, while anyone reaching the twelfth floor would earn a spectator seat directly.
• Hong Guang called on Xia Liheng to go first, and Xia Liheng entered the tower and quickly reached the eighth floor.
• Chu Hao asked Zi He about his chances against Xia Liheng, and Zi He admitted he would have to flee if Xia used Spirit Control.
• Yang Lingrui told Xu Jian'an not to belittle himself for standing among the gathered cultivators, and Xu Jian'an agreed.

Xia Liheng, Zi He, and Chu Hao easily cleared the Martial God Pagoda and earned spectator seats, while five other cultivators reached the twelfth floor with injuries. Ye Lan struggled through the eleventh-floor trial but, thinking of her younger siblings and the Ye Family, gave up before the final floor and left the pagoda.

• Xia Liheng, Zi He, and Chu Hao each obtained a twelfth-floor token and earned a spectator seat.
• Five more Ninth Level Cultivators mastered the Way of Spirit Control and reached the twelfth floor, though all emerged injured.
• Hong Guang noticed that Ye Lan's aura was unstable, while Zi He sensed the hardship behind her condition.
• Ye Lan and four other cultivators climbed to the eleventh floor; three gave up, and the remaining two eventually withdrew.
• Wounded Ye Lan considered climbing to the twelfth floor despite the danger, but remembered her younger siblings and the Ye Family and walked back down.

After the first selection round, the remaining cultivators learned that the next round would take place inside the dangerous Western Expedition Illusory Realm Stone. Yang Lingrui received a warning from He Shenglai that killing was permitted inside, then joined the other contestants as they prepared to enter.

• Li Qingwan reached the tenth floor and withdrew with only slight damage to her robes, while Yang Lingrui later withdrew from the eighth floor without drawing attention.
• Hong Guang announced that the second selection round would take place in the Western Expedition Illusory Realm Stone, where Ghost Soldiers and ghost generals made survival the contestants' responsibility.
• Yang Lingrui received a letter from He Shenglai stating that no one was forbidden to kill inside the illusory realm, and he burned it after reading.
• The next morning, Yang Lingrui and Xu Jian'an arrived at Fengtian Pavilion, where sixty-four cultivators chose to enter the second round and eighteen gave up.
• Yang Lingrui saw the Western Expedition Illusory Realm Stone and wondered how much of the Immortal Venerable's power it could restore if he swallowed it.

Yang Lingrui entered the Western Expedition Illusory Realm competition and learned that Su Lingyun had placed a bounty on his head. He killed the first hunter, then lured five more into gathering together while concealing himself, and prepared to strike.

• Hong Guang sent the cultivators into the illusory realm, where they would compete for the final twenty-two spectator seats by collecting Martial Fortune.
• A cultivator tracked down Yang Lingrui and attacked him for the bounty, but Yang Lingrui killed him and discovered the compass guiding the hunters to him.
• Yang Lingrui identified Su Lingyun as the likely source of the bounty and used Hidden Wind in Qi to learn that five more hunters were after him.
• Yang Lingrui spent several days drawing the five hunters toward a desolate clearing near the illusory realm's edge.
• The five hunters searched for Yang Lingrui, unaware that he was concealed nearby with a Spirit Concealment Talisman; once they gathered, he readied a deep-blue talisman.

Yang Lingrui killed the five pursuers with the Five Thunders Talisman and resumed hunting Ghost Soldiers and ghost generals. At the Myriad Transformation Sect’s recruitment assessment, Yang Lingshu’s talent test unexpectedly showed mostly white light with only a patch of azure.

• Yang Lingrui searched the five charred bodies, found their storage pouches too damaged to open, and set off to hunt Ghost Soldiers and ghost generals.
• At the Myriad Transformation Sect’s recruitment day, Yang Lingshu met Pan Qi, who approached him while looking to make useful connections.
• Elder Gu explained the five talent grades and warned the seven preselected Direct Disciple candidates that their positions could be withdrawn if they failed the assessment.
• Two prominent-family candidates displayed violet talent, while Pan Qi and three others showed azure light and were assigned according to their spiritual affinities.
• Yang Lingshu touched the treasure pearl, which showed mostly white light with a patch of azure, leaving him below the expected third-grade talent.

Yang Lingshu concealed his extraordinary aptitude during his test, then revealed Crimson Purple talent and Water Wood Double Resonance, shocking the Myriad Transformation Sect. The chapter ended with Elder Gu asking whether he would cultivate under Elder Mo, the reclusive master of Senior Disciple Brother Xiao Yize.

• Lü Fangxuan rebuffed a cultivator who mocked Yang Lingshu's apparent fourth-grade talent.
• Yang Lingshu reflected on the Yang Family's plan to serve as bait in the Dynasty's next consolidation and decided to make himself a valuable piece in the game.
• Yang Lingshu activated the Spirit Pearl, which turned Crimson Purple, and Elder Gu confirmed his Water Wood Double Resonance.
• Han Jingyi and Ge Yan greeted Yang Lingshu and learned that the Yang Family had risen with support from Lord He Shenglai.
• Elder Gu asked Yang Lingshu whether he was willing to cultivate under Elder Mo.

The Yang Family held its ten-year aptitude test for 596 children, hoping to find new cultivators. Yang Liu was the only one among the main family and its branches to show complete Qi Meridians, while testing continued with the South Bank’s adopted children.

• At the Myriad Transformation Sect’s recruitment, Yang Lingshu joined Elder Mo, and Lü Fangxuan entered the inner sect and was assigned to live near Elder Mo’s peak.
• Zhao Qi gave Yang Lingqing the roster of 596 children, and Yang Lingqing and Wu Tong prepared to conduct the Yang Family’s aptitude test.
• Yang Lingqing agreed to let Yang Yuanhong accompany them down the mountain after he promised to behave.
• The Yang Family welcomed the three with ceremony, and Yang Lingqing and Zhao Qi used their abilities to create a golden staircase to the testing platform.
• Yang Liu became the only one of the 24 main-family children and 212 branch children to have complete Qi Meridians.
• Yang Lingqing began testing the 360 adopted children from the South Bank.

During the South Bank children’s assessment, Zhou Qing accused the Yang Family of exploiting the common people, then revealed himself as an eighth-level Qi Gathering infiltrator when Zhao Qi ordered him arrested. Yang Lingqing subdued him with the family-protecting grand array, and four accomplices were killed by spells from Pine Mountain.

• Zhou Qing denounced the Yang Family before the South Bank children, accusing it of burdening commoners while favoring clan descendants.
• Zhao Qi answered Zhou Qing’s accusations, while Yang Lingqing and Yang Yuanhong suspected he had been directed by someone behind the scenes.
• Zhao Qi ordered Zhou Qing taken to the dungeon, and Zhou Qing unleashed Eighth Level Qi Gathering power and attacked him.
• Zhao Qi blocked Zhou Qing with a Golden Light Talisman, and Yang Lingqing used the family-protecting grand array to pin him down alive.
• Four accomplices exposed themselves and prepared to attack South Bank, but four spell lights from Pine Mountain killed them instantly.

Chen Yang uncovered an infiltration of six Eighth Level Qi Gathering cultivators and helped the Yang Family capture or kill them, while Zhou Qing died after the formation drained his lifespan. Yang Lingqing resumed aptitude testing, selected Dai Wei, and ordered tighter controls across the South and North Banks; the chapter ended with Gao Hui seeing Zhou Qing’s corpse in the dungeon.

• Chen Yang searched the Yang Family’s territory with his consciousness, found a concealed Late Stage Realm cultivator, and had Zhao Qi bring him back unconscious.
• Zhou Qing aged into a withered old man after the formation pinned him, and Chen Yang ordered his imprisonment while aptitude testing resumed.
• Yang Feiyun called the children forward, and Yang Lingqing selected Dai Wei after discovering he had complete Qi Meridians.
• Yang Lingqing ordered the villages named and bounded, required newcomers and merchants to register, and established a monthly mountain-worship ceremony.
• Zhao Qi and Elder Yu returned from Sanglu Valley to the Main Family, where Gao Hui saw Zhou Qing dead in the dungeon.

Yang Lingqing and Gao Hui uncovered Blood Feather Hall’s infiltration plot after examining Zhou Qing and captured a surviving cultivator for the Dynasty to interrogate. After the Yang Family thanked Chen Yang and made plans to prevent future attacks, Elder Yu took Dai Wei as his disciple and North Bank and South Bank began reorganizing.

• Gao Hui and Elder Yu identified Zhou Qing’s technique as Blood Feather Hall’s Blood Drinking Method, and Gao Hui took the captured cultivator to White Stone to report the infiltration.
• Yang Lingqing thanked Chen Yang for protecting South Bank, and Chen Yang ordered monthly worship and searches to prevent further incursions.
• Elder Yu praised Yang Liu and accepted Dai Wei as his disciple, then began teaching both children about cultivation.
• North Bank merged its clans into a village called Chongyang, while South Bank postponed settlement planning until the Zhou Family’s fate was decided.
• Yang Feiyun spared the Zhou Family after Zhou Liang pleaded for mercy and ordered them to help with South Bank’s construction and defenses.

Yang Lingrui secured seventh place in the selection and obtained a Spectator Seat, while Su Lingyun grew angry after Su Lixue rejected him. The chapter ended with Su Lingyun ordering Old Qin to bring Ye Lan to him, despite knowing she belonged to Young Master Yu.

• Yang Lingrui returned from the illusory realm with enough Martial Fortune to place seventh, and the rankings showed Ye Lan first and Li Qingwan second.
• Hong Guang announced the twenty-two successful candidates and offered rewards from the Dynasty Treasury to those who had survived but failed to qualify.
• Yang Lingrui joined He Shenglai, who mocked Su Lingyun after the Su Family's chosen candidates died in the illusory realm.
• Su Lixue rebuffed Su Lingyun and stayed with her academy disciples, leaving him visibly disappointed.
• Unable to meditate that night, Su Lingyun ordered Old Qin to bring Ye Lan and gave him a jade token to ensure he obeyed.

Li Yuande prepared to demonstrate Qi Descent to Essence Condensation before Consort Xi and the assembled cultivators. As Xuan Zhou brought him to the center of the viewing platform, four Core Formation Cultivators took positions around him to guard and monitor him.

• Li Yuande prepared for the demonstration in the royal courtyard while Xuan Zhou checked that he was ready and told him that his beloved had obtained a spectator seat.
• Yang Lingrui, Li Qingwan, Ye Lan, and the other young cultivators gathered at Chaori Hall, where Li Qingwan supported Ye Lan by channeling spiritual energy into her.
• Imperial music and incense cleansed the young cultivators' bodies and eased Ye Lan's condition.
• Consort Xi arrived, accepted the crowd's greetings, and ordered the demonstration to begin.
• Xuan Zhou brought Li Yuande to the center of the viewing platform on a lotus-leaf platform, where four Core Formation Cultivators took positions around him.

Li Yuande demonstrated the methods of tempering true essence by repeatedly shattering and restoring parts of his body, enduring severe agony while Zi He and Li Qingwan watched. After completing the demonstration, he began the final step of breaking through to the Core Formation Realm: condensing an Origin Core.

• Li Yuande told Zi He and Li Qingwan to watch closely, then began tempering true essence while revealing every change in his body.
• When his first strand of true essence threatened to explode, Li Yuande redirected it into his left wrist, and four Core Formation Cultivators restored his shattered arm.
• Li Yuande demonstrated four more incorrect tempering methods, having his right arm, both legs, and the right side of his chest blasted apart and restored.
• Li Yuande tempered twenty strands of true essence, kneaded them apart, and repeated the process while Li Qingwan wept and Zi He hid his anguish.
• After four hours and eight demonstrations, Li Yuande recovered his strength and began condensing an Origin Core.