Recaps

Lu Yuan helped Lin Xiao defeat a gray-clad assailant who was hunting him, then used a strange bead from the attacker to slow Lin Xiao’s poison. With night approaching, Lu Yuan carried the wounded boy east to find shelter, and Lin Xiao woke and asked to be put down.

• The gray-clad man poisoned and bound Lin Xiao with Bone-Binding Silk, then ordered Lu Yuan to surrender his belongings.
• Lu Yuan used Soul Power to make fluorescent vines flare, distracting the attacker long enough for Lin Xiao to break free and kill him.
• Lin Xiao collapsed from his injuries, and Lu Yuan treated his wound with Moonlight Orchid powder before searching the corpse.
• Lu Yuan found a bead embedded in the attacker’s palm and pressed it to Lin Xiao’s wound, stopping the poison from spreading.
• As darkness fell, Lu Yuan carried Lin Xiao east to seek shelter, and Lin Xiao woke and told him to put him down.

Lu Yuan treated Lin Xiao’s poisoned shoulder in a hidden cave, then explained how mismatched cultivation methods could hinder a mutated Martial Soul. Lin Xiao asked Lu Yuan to help optimize his cultivation method and offered to accompany him toward Vast Sea City, where Lu Yuan was headed.

• Lu Yuan carried the wounded Lin Xiao to a cave, gave him a medicinal bead to suppress the poison, and cleaned and bandaged his shoulder.
• Lin Xiao questioned Lu Yuan’s precise use of Blue Silver Grass, and Lu Yuan explained that he studied how plants responded to different Soul Power frequencies and pulses.
• Lu Yuan suggested that Lin Xiao’s family had given his mutated Hell Spirit Cat a cultivation method meant for a standard one, causing blockages in his Soul Power.
• Lin Xiao asked Lu Yuan to help optimize his cultivation method, and Lu Yuan agreed to try if Lin Xiao cooperated and accepted the risks.
• Lin Xiao offered to accompany Lu Yuan toward Vast Sea City and said he could not return to his family; Lu Yuan said they would leave at daybreak.

Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao ambushed the man tailing them and learned that Teacher Sun had sent him to watch Lu Yuan and possibly arrange an accident. The pair continued toward Vast Sea City, now aware that Teacher Sun and the Hundred Refinements Pavilion were working against them.

• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao noticed a follower and planned to ambush him in a valley.
• They captured the follower, who identified Teacher Sun as his employer and admitted he had been told to watch Lu Yuan and possibly arrange an accident.
• The follower revealed that Teacher Sun had accepted benefits from Shopkeeper Jin of the Hundred Refinements Pavilion after Lu Yuan questioned the triangular array.
• Lin Xiao knocked the man unconscious, and the pair bound him and threw him down a ravine.
• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao resumed their journey toward Vast Sea City, with Lu Yuan carrying the address for Old Shipyard Alley.

While seeking supplies in a craftspeople’s settlement, Lu Yuan discovered Su Yan’s extraordinary precision in shaping metal and offered him brief guidance. Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao left without recruiting him, while Su Yan continued working with a newly sharpened sense of control.

• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao entered the settlement to buy salt and supplies, where they noticed Su Yan hammering a metal component with remarkable steadiness.
• Lu Yuan identified a hidden flaw in the metal and showed Su Yan how to guide his Soul Power through it, improving the component’s finish.
• Lin Xiao warned Lu Yuan that their enemies and dangerous journey made it risky to involve Su Yan, so Lu Yuan initially left without approaching him further.
• After buying provisions and treating Lin Xiao’s wound, Lu Yuan returned to Su Yan and taught him to sense control through the tiny vibrations in his tendons.
• Su Yan tried Lu Yuan’s advice and felt clearer control as he resumed hammering, while Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao departed the settlement.

Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao survived a deadly ambush by three men sent by Teacher Sun, killing two attackers and leaving the third badly wounded. After Lin Xiao agreed to share details about his cultivation so Lu Yuan could help optimize it, they left the mountain path together before more danger arrived.

• Lin Xiao and Lu Yuan were ambushed by a control-type Soul Master and two assault-type fighters, who said Teacher Sun wanted Lin Xiao dead or alive.
• Lu Yuan used Blue Silver Grass, irritating sap, purple thorn grass, and disturbed beetles to disrupt the attackers while Lin Xiao killed the control-type Soul Master.
• Lin Xiao killed the wiry attacker and struck the burly man down, but suffered severe wounds; Lu Yuan bound his injuries after his Soul Power was exhausted.
• Lu Yuan realized the Hundred Refinements Pavilion had sent the men to silence him, while Lin Xiao recognized the value of Lu Yuan’s unconventional tactics.
• Lin Xiao offered Lu Yuan information about his Soul Power pathways and Martial Soul Possession to help optimize his cultivation method, and Lu Yuan agreed.
• Lu Yuan searched the corpses for supplies, discarded the poisoned blade, and helped Lin Xiao leave the mountain path before the scent of blood drew more threats.

Lu Yuan weighed whether to leave the gravely injured Lin Xiao behind or risk traveling with him to Gray Stone Market. He chose the market, and the two set out together in search of medicine and information.

• Lin Xiao developed a high fever as his shoulder wound worsened, and Lu Yuan considered the routes to Gray Stone Market and Ghost Cry Valley.
• Lin Xiao urged Lu Yuan to go ahead without him, admitting he could no longer return home.
• Lu Yuan chose Gray Stone Market, judging that its medicine and crowds offered their best chance despite the danger.
• Lu Yuan hauled Lin Xiao to his feet and supported him as they headed northeast toward the market.
• Lin Xiao thanked Lu Yuan, who adjusted his grip and continued onward with him.

Lu Yuan traded the Iron Thorn Wild Boar bones for medicine and supplies to treat Lin Xiao in a Gray Stone Market shanty. He learned the Hundred Refinements Pavilion had put a bounty on a young Soul Master with Blue Silver Grass and an injured companion, then saw its men begin searching the shanties door to door.

• Lu Yuan traded the Iron Thorn Wild Boar bones to a stallholder for medicine, flatbreads, and water while supporting the feverish Lin Xiao.
• The stallholder told Lu Yuan that the Hundred Refinements Pavilion had offered five hundred Gold Soul Coins for a young Soul Master who might have Blue Silver Grass and an injured companion.
• Lu Yuan paid to shelter Lin Xiao in a shanty and treated his infected wound and fever.
• Lu Yuan heard orderly footsteps and saw a Hundred Refinements Pavilion search party question people in nearby shanties.
• Lu Yuan recognized the Pavilion's emblem and realized its men had arrived and were searching door to door.

Lu Yuan fled Gray Stone Market with the feverish, wounded Lin Xiao and hid from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion in an abandoned soul-tool mine. Cornered by their pursuers, they received an urgent escape instruction from a mysterious stranger concealed in a side passage.

• Lu Yuan carried the exhausted Lin Xiao out of the shantytown and headed for the mountains as the Hundred Refinements Pavilion searched for them.
• Lin Xiao told Lu Yuan that an abandoned mine nearby contained miasma that weakened Soul Power, but they entered it to escape their pursuers.
• Lu Yuan followed airflow through the mine, but the tunnel ended at a cave-in while the pursuers closed in behind them.
• Lin Xiao urged Lu Yuan to escape through a narrow crack while he stayed to hold off the pursuers, but Lu Yuan refused to leave him.
• A hidden stranger answered Lu Yuan's call for help and told them to push open the third loose stone slab on the left without touching the purple moss.

Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao hid from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion in a mine tunnel, where they met a hostile inventor who recognized Lu Yuan’s Soul Tool knowledge and let them stay. The inventor treated Lin Xiao’s infected wound with an experimental gel, stopping the bleeding as the pursuers’ footsteps faded, though the danger in the tunnel remained uncertain.

• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao slipped into a hidden room in the mine, where a strange man aimed a crossbow at them.
• Lu Yuan explained that the Hundred Refinements Pavilion was hunting them, then impressed the man by proposing a fix for a Soul Tool circuit problem.
• The man lowered his crossbow, let them hide, and gave them medicine to protect against miasma in the tunnels.
• After examining Lin Xiao’s infected wound, the man used his newly developed rapid wound-clotting gel on it.
• The gel formed a film over Lin Xiao’s wound and stopped the bleeding, while the pursuers’ footsteps faded outside.

Lu Yuan impressed Mo Chen by diagnosing flaws in his Soul Tool designs, and Mo Chen offered to work with him. Their discussion was interrupted when Mo Chen heard the Hundred Refinements Pavilion searching nearby, leaving Lu Yuan to choose between Mo Chen’s offer and his plan to reach Vast Sea City with the unconscious Lin Xiao.

• Lu Yuan identified problems in Mo Chen’s Soul Tool theories and designs, including energy-flow conflicts, resonance, thermal expansion, and a flawed efficiency formula.
• Mo Chen shared how the Hundred Refinements Pavilion had expelled him after his experiments failed and left him burdened with debt.
• Lu Yuan recognized the ingredients and proportions in Mo Chen’s clotting gel, deepening Mo Chen’s trust in him.
• Mo Chen gave Lu Yuan an iron box of research notes and formulas, then urged him to stay and build a laboratory together.
• Mo Chen heard the Hundred Refinements Pavilion searching the mountain, while Lu Yuan looked between Mo Chen and the unconscious Lin Xiao.

Lu Yuan refused to remain hidden with Mo Chen, but promised to work with him in the future and took Lin Xiao through a secret exit from the mine. Exhausted beside a forest stream, he was cornered by three Hundred Refinements Pavilion men, including a Soul Ancestor, and prepared to use Mo Chen’s device.

• Lu Yuan told Mo Chen he could not stay, promised they could cooperate in the future, and decided to take the feverish Lin Xiao with him.
• Mo Chen gave Lu Yuan a one-use device that could disrupt nearby Soul Power and led him through a concealed mine exit.
• Lu Yuan and Mo Chen parted, and Lu Yuan carried Lin Xiao through the mountain forest toward a stream near the Black Swamp.
• After half a shichen of travel, Lu Yuan stopped to rest and gave Lin Xiao a little water.
• Three Hundred Refinements Pavilion men blocked the stream trail and revealed that Elder Sun had ordered them to bring Lu Yuan back alive or dead.
• The men released their Soul Rings, and Lu Yuan gripped Mo Chen’s device as the Soul Ancestor’s Soul Power pressed down on him.

Lu Yuan used Mo Chen’s strange Soul Tool and a burst of Blue Silver Grass spores to disrupt the Soul Ancestor deacon and escape down a steep slope with Lin Xiao. The deacon ordered his men to search for them alive or dead, especially Lu Yuan, who carried Zhou Chun’s letter and Mo Chen’s notes.

• The Soul Ancestor deacon overpowered Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao, while Lin Xiao briefly wounded a Soul Elder before collapsing again.
• The deacon questioned Lu Yuan about Mo Chen’s Soul Tool and Zhou Chun’s letter, revealing that it could lead the Hundred Refinements Pavilion to a group called Spark.
• When the deacon crushed Mo Chen’s device, it unleashed a Soul Power disturbance that briefly weakened his control.
• Lu Yuan detonated his Soul Power through Blue Silver Grass, flinging spores into the deacon’s face before carrying Lin Xiao toward the slope.
• The deacon’s Soul Power claw failed to catch them, and he ordered a search three li down the slope for both boys.

After falling into a deep valley, Lu Yuan treated his and Lin Xiao’s injuries and struggled to keep them alive through the cold night. He sensed an unknown source of Soul Power hidden behind vines in the rock wall and decided to investigate after daybreak.

• Lu Yuan woke at the bottom of the valley, splinted his injured leg, and found Lin Xiao gravely wounded but breathing.
• Lu Yuan bandaged Lin Xiao, dragged him to shelter beside a stream, and used blood-staunching grass to treat his wounds.
• Lu Yuan failed to start a fire, gathered dew for Lin Xiao, and heard him briefly wake and ask where they were and how Lu Yuan was.
• Lu Yuan stayed awake in the darkness and used Blue Silver Grass to explore, sensing a strange, steady Soul Power fluctuation behind purple vines on the rock wall.
• Lu Yuan decided to investigate the unknown fluctuation after daybreak.

Lu Yuan found a nourishing plant in a hidden cavern and used its fruit to recover his strength and revive Lin Xiao. As he prepared to escape with Lin Xiao, a furious beast approached and dense fog swallowed every route through the valley.

• Lu Yuan crossed the stream and discovered a plant radiating nourishing Soul Power in a concealed cavern.
• Lu Yuan picked the plant’s fruit, consumed half to heal and recover, and fed the rest to the unconscious Lin Xiao.
• Lu Yuan regained enough strength to carry Lin Xiao and began untying the vines binding him.
• A deep roar and dragging sound came from the fog-shrouded depths of the valley, signaling an approaching threat.
• Dense white fog engulfed the valley floor, obscuring every escape route as the unknown creature drew closer.

Lu Yuan evaded a fog-dwelling Soul Beast by luring it toward the strange plant, then hid with Lin Xiao in a concealed hollow. After the beast left, he found rusted metal fragments and a rotted tool handle, suggesting someone had excavated the valley long ago.

• Lu Yuan used Blue Silver Grass, thrown stones, and branches to track and mislead the Soul Beast while carrying Lin Xiao through the fog.
• Lu Yuan used a spark and Soul Power to send plant fluff toward the strange plant, drawing the Soul Beast away from him.
• Lu Yuan reached a concealed hollow in the cliff and hid there with Lin Xiao as the Soul Beast prowled nearby before retreating.
• Lu Yuan examined the hollow and found old chisel marks, rusted metal fragments, and half a wooden handle buried in the soil.
• Lu Yuan wondered what someone had been searching for in the valley and suspected it held more secrets than it appeared to.

Lu Yuan investigated the cave and found evidence that someone had cultivated the strange Soul Power plant there before disappearing. Carrying the recovering Lin Xiao, he entered the only passage out of the valley and encountered several powerful Soul Beasts feeding in an underground cavern.

• Lu Yuan found old tools, counting marks, and a leather pouch containing traces of powder, and deduced that a cultivator had tried to grow or improve the plant.
• Lu Yuan gathered the cave artifacts, secured Lin Xiao's injuries, and carried him downstream toward the mist-filled passage.
• As they entered the passage, Lin Xiao woke and warned that something was inside, but agreed to continue with Lu Yuan.
• Lu Yuan sensed at least three hostile Soul Power fluctuations ahead and found deep claw marks along the passage walls.
• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao reached an underground cavern, where three huge Soul Beasts were feeding on lizard-like corpses and one turned toward them.

Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao recovered in a limestone cave and discovered that a mysterious fruit had improved Lin Xiao’s Soul Power and Martial Soul. Searching the valley for an escape, they found a waterfall guarded by three Soul Beasts and their eggs, leaving them trapped between the creatures and their pursuers.

• Lu Yuan explained that he had shared a Soul Power plant fruit with Lin Xiao, whose Soul Power recovered and whose Martial Soul blockage eased.
• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao concluded that the valley must have another exit because its Soul Beasts needed a way to forage.
• Lu Yuan heard water behind the wall of an old shallow cave, and he and Lin Xiao suspected people had once dug there for something.
• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao followed the stream downstream, hoping to find a route out through an underground river or waterfall.
• Lu Yuan discovered three Soul Beasts guarding their eggs beside a bottomless waterfall, and one spotted the pair as they found their retreat cut off.

Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao fled their pursuers by jumping into a waterfall and rafted through a dangerous underground river toward an exit. They reached the daylight opening only to find it guarded by a waking swarm of bat-type Soul Beasts, and chose to rush through.

• Lin Xiao and Lu Yuan jumped from the waterfall into a deep pool to escape the Soul Beasts pursuing them.
• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao built a raft and followed the underground river, relying on Lu Yuan's Blue Silver Grass and Lin Xiao's Beast Martial Soul instincts to navigate.
• Lu Yuan found a narrow crevice past a whirlpool, and the two abandoned the raft and squeezed through into a vast cavern.
• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao followed the water toward daylight, but Lin Xiao spotted bat-type Soul Beasts waking above the exit.
• Lu Yuan raised a Blue Silver Grass net while Lin Xiao prepared to fight, and Lu Yuan told him to rush through.

Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao escaped the Nether Waterway after a mysterious green-robed old man drove away the Vampire Bats. They accepted his offer of shelter, while Lu Yuan suspected the man was connected to Shen Moxin and the mark on her letter.

• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao fought off the Vampire Bats as their raft raced toward the exit, but large bats severed its bindings and sent it toward a boulder.
• A life-filled force from outside scattered the bats, and the raft carried Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao out of the cave into a pool.
• Lu Yuan recognized the pattern on the green-robed old man's wooden emblem as the mark on Shen Moxin's letter.
• The old man questioned the youths, and Lu Yuan said they had been hunted and found the waterway by accident.
• The old man offered to take the injured youths to his thatched cottage, and Lu Yuan accepted despite his suspicions.
• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao followed the old man into the woods as Lu Yuan memorized the route and wondered about the man's connection to Shen Moxin.

Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao reached Qingzhu’s secluded home, where Lu Yuan presented Shen Moxin’s letter and explained their escape from the deep valley. After Lu Yuan offered several theories about the lifeless Nether Waterway, Qingzhu allowed them to stay, though his true intentions remained unclear.

• Qingzhu examined Shen Moxin’s letter and questioned Lu Yuan about the Origin Spirit Fruit and how he and Lin Xiao escaped the deep valley.
• Lu Yuan explained that they had followed the stream through a waterfall cave and underground river to escape the Hundred Refinements Pavilion’s pursuers.
• Qingzhu tested Lu Yuan by asking why the Nether Waterway held so little life despite its flowing water and caves.
• Lu Yuan proposed that an energy field, a disrupted material cycle, or the Blood-Eyed Bats might explain the waterway’s lifelessness.
• Qingzhu let Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao stay in the clearing’s empty house while he considered Lu Yuan’s reasoning.

Lu Yuan diagnosed why Qingzhu's Golden Thread Grass was deteriorating and proposed changes to its care. Impressed by his insight, Qingzhu agreed to let Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao stay.

• Qingzhu brought Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao water and porridge, then led them to a struggling patch of Golden Thread Grass.
• Lu Yuan used his Blue Silver Grass to examine the plants and asked Qingzhu about his cultivation methods, water source, and nearby Blazing Sun Grass.
• Lu Yuan diagnosed an imbalance caused by strong wood-attribute nourishment, cold spring water, and the Blazing Sun Grass's fire Qi.
• Lu Yuan recommended gentler, more frequent nourishment, milder irrigation water, moving the Blazing Sun Grass, and improving soil circulation.
• Qingzhu praised Lu Yuan as a "Little Monster" and said he could stay.

Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao recovered in Qingzhu’s valley while Lu Yuan studied how Soul Power interacted with matter and developed a new cultivation method for Lin Xiao’s mutated Martial Soul. After Lin Xiao’s powers spiraled out of control, Lu Yuan proposed that he work with his Martial Soul rather than suppress it, and Qingzhu watched them from the herb garden.

• Qingzhu gave Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao medicine and instructions for staying in the valley, but refused to explain what lay deeper in the Nether Waterway.
• Lu Yuan studied how Soul Power weakened inside different stones, while Lin Xiao discovered that the Origin Spirit Fruit had altered his Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul and made his inherited cultivation method painful to use.
• Lu Yuan proposed Netlike Channeling to divide Lin Xiao’s Soul Power among his claws, arm, and shadow affinity, and Lin Xiao began practicing it as his injury healed.
• Qingzhu gave Lu Yuan three Origin Consolidation Pills and advised that Morning Star Academy across the border might offer them shelter after they left the valley.
• After half a month, Lin Xiao’s attempt to channel Soul Power through three streams ended in a violent backlash that gouged deep claw marks into the ground.
• Lu Yuan suggested that Lin Xiao’s Martial Soul needed a framework in which it could develop through cooperation rather than control, while Qingzhu quietly watched from the herb garden.

Lu Yuan guided Lin Xiao through experiments to communicate with the shadow trait in his Martial Soul, explaining that cooperation rather than control could help stabilize his Soul Power. After repeated failures, Lin Xiao finally watched the trait without trying to command it, and it responded to him, loosening the stagnation in his Soul Power.

• Lu Yuan explained that Lin Xiao’s Shadow Art forced the shadow trait into a single channel and proposed splitting Soul Power across finer meridians, which required understanding the Martial Soul.
• Lin Xiao sensed a wary presence in the dark patch of his Soul Power, but trying to control or match it triggered resistance and left him injured.
• After three days of failed attempts, Lu Yuan showed Lin Xiao notes documenting patterns in the trait’s reactions and suggested staying near it without forcing a connection.
• Lin Xiao walked to the stream, remembered being praised as a rare genius after his awakening, and resolved that he could not accept his current helplessness.
• Lin Xiao tried again with Lu Yuan’s Blue Silver Grass stabilizing his Soul Power, and quietly observed the shadow trait instead of approaching it.
• The dark patch responded to Lin Xiao’s gentle touch, adjusted its rhythm toward his, and loosened the sluggishness in his Soul Power; Lin Xiao told Lu Yuan he thought he had felt it.

Lu Yuan helped Lin Xiao communicate with his Martial Soul and collaborated with Qingzhu to investigate Soul Power and earth-vein phenomena. Their small resonance experiment slightly loosened a blocked earth-vein node, leaving Qingzhu convinced that the younger generation would shape the future.

• Lu Yuan advised Lin Xiao to communicate gently with his Martial Soul each day, and Lin Xiao reported that the practice was easing his sluggish Soul Power.
• Qingzhu shared decades of observations about Soul Power plants and earth-vein phenomena, and Lu Yuan offered theories to explain them.
• Qingzhu showed Lu Yuan damaged ancient notes about earth-vein nodes, and Lu Yuan proposed using resonance to loosen blockages.
• Lu Yuan sensed a blocked earth-vein branch beneath a barren patch and persuaded Qingzhu to test the resonance method on a small scale.
• Qingzhu supplied Green-Veined Stones and precisely controlled his Soul Power while Lu Yuan guided it through a formation made with Blue Silver Grass and herbal powder.
• The formation briefly resonated, slightly moving the blocked Soul Power and making the grass tips appear greener, and Qingzhu reflected that the world must be entrusted to young people like Lu Yuan.

Qingzhu detected an approaching Soul Power user and realized the visitor might be connected to Lin Xiao’s clan rather than the Hundred Refinements Pavilion. The visitor reached the valley entrance and called out to Qingzhu, leaving Lin Xiao terrified and Qingzhu warning that a dangerous madman had come.

• Qingzhu sensed that someone had cut through his Entangling Silk Vines and estimated they would reach the valley within two hours.
• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao prepared to leave, but Qingzhu said the valley’s formation could delay the intruders and suspected they belonged to a fierce clan.
• Lin Xiao reacted with anger and fear when Qingzhu suggested the pursuers might be from his clan.
• A heavy impact shook the valley entrance, and an arrogant voice called for Qingzhu to come greet an old friend.
• Lu Yuan stepped in front of the trembling Lin Xiao, while Qingzhu identified the visitor as a madman and wondered why the Lin Clan had sent him.