Recaps

After Zhang Weimeng advertised his novels during Zhang Xuezhou’s school ceremony, Zhang Manqian planned to buy a Gene Armory Five-Star Combat Technique with money from the family. Zhang Xuezhou offered her several cultivation and recovery texts, but she chose the technique suited to her genes.

• Zhang Weimeng used his ceremony speech to promote his novels and credited Zhang Xuezhou with helping write them.
• Zhang Xuezhou complained that he had corrected and filled in Zhang Weimeng’s manuscripts, while Zhang Manqian noted the family would benefit from their parents’ commercial efforts.
• Zhang Manqian said she intended to buy a Gene Armory Five-Star Combat Technique for twenty-five thousand, and Zhang Xuezhou offered her the money she needed.
• Zhang Manqian explained that her tiger, leopard, and crane gene segments could match certain combat techniques and help her reach higher levels of mastery.
• Zhang Xuezhou recommended his recovery and cultivation texts, but Zhang Manqian preferred to practice a Five-Star Combat Technique compatible with her genes.

Zhang Xuezhou’s accumulated Demon Power refined into two competing strands, changing his body and giving him stronger wing-assisted leaps. As the mallard’s power began to overpower the Swan Demon’s, Zhang Xuezhou glided near a stone house and heard a warning cry.

• Hongku recognized the feathers on Zhang Xuezhou’s arms and concluded that the Golden Toad Dharma King had exposed him to Demon Power; he decided Zhang should develop the abilities it gave him.
• Wu Chao teased Zhang Xuezhou about his feathers, and Zhang explained that flapping his arms let him rise only a short distance and glide.
• Zhang Xuezhou sensed that the mallard demon’s power and the Swan Demon’s power were the last two strands remaining in his body, and that they were fighting to dominate him.
• Zhang Xuezhou’s feathers turned mostly black as Lü Yaya’s cries sounded triumphant, and his wings lifted him seven feet off the ground.
• Zhang Xuezhou glided at roughly a person’s height toward a stone house, where the mallard’s piercing warning cry made his scalp tingle.

Zhang Xuezhou sensed danger near a locked room in Hongku's compound, prompting Wu Chao to warn him to guard his personal details. Hongku returned with a flying technique suited to Zhang Xuezhou's body and Demon Power, leaving Zhang surprised by his teacher's generosity.

• Zhang Xuezhou's green-headed duck Demon Power warned him as he flew past a room, so he moved away and asked Wu Chao about it.
• Wu Chao used a hair spell to investigate the room, then warned Zhang not to give Hongku his birth details, Essence Blood, or hair.
• Zhang and Wu Chao set their suspicions aside and continued studying while Hongku was away.
• Hongku returned, called Zhang by his assumed name Wu Jin, and said he had obtained the Technique Within the Clouds from Venerable Lei.
• Hongku explained that the technique had been practiced by a sage with a human body and Demon Power, and Zhang was astonished that it might suit him.

Hongku gave Zhang Xuezhou an inheritance jade for the incomplete Technique Within the Clouds and explained how to unlock it, but Zhang Xuezhou postponed using it because he suspected it might be dangerous. Hongku then took Wu Chao into a suspicious building, where Wu Chao emerged with a jade containing a technique called Predicting the Future.

• Hongku explained that the Technique Within the Clouds could enable swift flight but could be countered, and that Zhang Xuezhou would need to seek Venerable Lei for its complete form.
• Hongku told Zhang Xuezhou to nourish the inheritance jade with blood, but Zhang Xuezhou decided to wait until he could examine it with Wu Chao.
• Hongku led Wu Chao into the building that the green-headed duck had warned Zhang Xuezhou about.
• Wu Chao emerged astonished and delighted, holding a white jade and telling Zhang Xuezhou that it contained Predicting the Future.
• Zhang Xuezhou wondered if Wu Chao had obtained Hongku's true skill.

Wu Chao revealed that he had sworn a great heart demon oath to learn Hongku’s future-seeing incantation, while Hongku secretly used Wu Chao as the twenty-second substitute to bear curses aimed at him. Hongku remained unable to identify the person behind the attacks and turned his suspicions toward the holy land’s twelve venerables.

• Wu Chao told Zhang Xuezhou that he had given Hongku his Essence Blood, hair, and birth date and time to inherit the incantation under the holy land’s rules.
• Wu Chao and Zhang Xuezhou left Hongku’s courtyard, believing the technique would help them avoid future dangers.
• Hongku used a demonic bird to search for the person cursing him, but the bird’s soul found nothing and vanished.
• Hongku bound Wu Chao’s materials to the cloth contract and prepared him as the twenty-second person to redirect curses away from himself.
• Hongku suspected the twelve venerables of the Yedie River Holy Land and vowed to strike back if he discovered who was targeting him.

Wu Chao and Zhang Xuezhou used blood to activate inheritance jades for their new techniques, but Wu Chao realized Hongku had cursed them. The chapter ended with Zhang Xuezhou fearing he would be the next of Hongku’s students to die.

• Wu Chao worried the Star-Fixing Technique might make him a lone star like Hongku, but decided learning it could help him survive.
• Wu Chao cut his finger to nourish the inheritance jade, then cut Zhang Xuezhou’s finger so he could obtain the Technique Within the Clouds.
• Wu Chao sensed that Hongku had cursed them and realized his heart-demon oath had given Hongku what he needed to cast the curse.
• Zhang Xuezhou used a healing technique on Wu Chao, who warned him that Hongku was secretly killing his students.
• Zhang Xuezhou concluded that he was the next one to die.

Wu Chao realized Hongku had cursed him and suspected he would be the next of his senior brothers to die, so he urged Zhang Xuezhou to help him kill their teacher. Zhang Xuezhou resisted until Wu Chao threatened to take him down with him, then agreed to join the plan as Wu Chao made him swallow a hair to bind them together.

• Wu Chao became frenzied after Hongku’s incantation, but Zhang Xuezhou restrained him and helped clear his mind.
• Wu Chao concluded Hongku had cursed him after taking the mark from his Heart Demon Great Oath Incantation Method, though he could not identify Hongku’s motive.
• Wu Chao asked Zhang Xuezhou to join forces and use the next three years to grow strong enough to attack Hongku, but Zhang Xuezhou refused and planned to avoid the teacher instead.
• Wu Chao warned that he might kill Zhang Xuezhou if he were left to die alone, prompting Zhang Xuezhou to agree to accompany him.
• Wu Chao pulled out one of his hairs and ordered Zhang Xuezhou to swallow it so they would be bound together.

Wu Chao offered Zhang Xuezhou cultivation resources to help him learn the Technique Within the Clouds and prepare to assassinate Hongku. As Zhang Xuezhou began cultivating, Wu Chao also studied the Star-Fixing Technique as a way to counter Hongku.

• Wu Chao promised Zhang Xuezhou half his monthly cultivation resources and agreed to keep supplying what he needed.
• Zhang Xuezhou resumed cultivating the Technique Within the Clouds, whose inheritance revealed that it could help him fold away his wings as well as fly.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Wu Chao for an extensive list of costly resources, and Wu Chao agreed to have his people deliver them the next day.
• Wu Chao planned for Zhang Xuezhou to use his flight to surprise Hongku while Wu Chao kept their master occupied.
• Wu Chao began learning the Star-Fixing Technique, hoping its predictions would help him strike Hongku before Hongku could kill him.

Zhang Xuezhou worried that seeking treatment from Ren Yisheng could get him expelled from Canglan Academy, while he prepared to spend his remaining prize money on food to strengthen his body. He decided to buy a thousand chickens, and Zhang Manqian chose to accompany him to prevent him from overwhelming their small apartment with poultry.

• Zhang Manqian thanked Zhang Xuezhou for lending her twenty thousand yuan to buy a Five-Star Combat Technique, and he joked that she owed him thirteen thousand in return.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered how disclosing his mental illness to Ren Yisheng might jeopardize his place at Canglan Academy and his chance of receiving free treatment.
• Zhang Manqian served Zhang Xuezhou quail stew, but he rejected it as a substitute for free-range chicken and decided to find a seller himself.
• Zhang Xuezhou planned to use his remaining thirty-five thousand yuan on food and other ways to strengthen his body.
• Zhang Manqian decided to go with Zhang Xuezhou when he announced he would buy a thousand chickens, fearing he would bring too many back to their apartment.

Zhang Xuezhou accompanied Zhang Manqian to White Dew Farm while she tried to persuade him to fund her training in the Crane Form Fist and its companion Tiger Form Fist. As they arrived, Zhang Xuezhou sensed the farm's chickens calling to him, while Zhang Manqian worried his unusual behavior meant his condition was worsening.

• Zhang Manqian told Zhang Xuezhou that buying the Tiger Form Fist would let her combine it with the Crane Form Fist and reach the standard of a Four-Star Combat Technique, but Zhang Xuezhou suspected she had been scammed.
• Zhang Manqian said she planned to master the Crane Form Fist in three months and described how Zuo Teng had trained in the Five-Star Eagle Claw Skill.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided he would test Unrivaled Hunk using an official account of his own, and told Zhang Manqian to train for three months before showing him her skills.
• Zhang Xuezhou sensed a strong pull from White Dew Farm as the bus arrived and hurried toward the farm, spreading his arms like a rooster.
• Zhang Manqian followed Zhang Xuezhou, fearing he might be having a mental episode and preparing to restrain him if necessary.

Zhang Xuezhou searched White Dew Farm for the ingredient he sensed he needed and eventually found unusually fluffy guinea fowl. Zhang Manqian identified them as a rare ingredient, though the vendor’s price was far above the recommended retail price.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian visited White Dew Farm, where Zhang Xuezhou sensed that an ingredient he needed was somewhere in the market.
• Zhang Xuezhou questioned three chicken vendors and learned that their birds were improved breeds rather than the original free-range chickens he sought.
• Zhang Manqian explained that genuine original free-range chickens belonged to the pheasant family and were rarely raised because they could fly away.
• After searching for nearly two hours, Zhang Xuezhou found fluffy birds he sensed might be the ingredient he needed, and the vendor called them pearl birds.
• Zhang Manqian searched her visual device and identified the birds as guinea fowl, whose recommended retail price was fifteen yuan each, while the vendor charged one hundred and twenty yuan.

Zhang Xuezhou found pearl chickens and arranged to buy a hundred every three days, despite Zhang Manqian’s protests. After agreeing on a price with vendor Ai Fengwu, Zhang Xuezhou asked Zhang Manqian about the pearl chicken’s ancestral breed.

• Zhang Xuezhou recognized the vendor’s fluffy birds as pearl chickens, a small new breed developed for flavor, and decided he needed several each meal.
• Zhang Manqian warned Zhang Xuezhou that the chickens were too expensive, but he asked the vendor how many he had and learned that most of the batch remained.
• Zhang Manqian exposed the vendor’s inflated claims with a recording, and Ai Fengwu admitted the chickens were fragile, mostly feathers, and difficult to sell.
• Zhang Xuezhou arranged for Ai Fengwu to deliver a hundred fresh, cleaned pearl chickens every three days at eleven yuan and fifty cents each.
• Zhang Manqian worried that Zhang Xuezhou’s purchases would consume his scholarship money, while Zhang Xuezhou asked her about the pearl chicken’s ancestral breed.

Zhang Xuezhou tested whether eating guinea fowl could bring his dreamlike ability to fly into waking life, while Zhang Manqian practiced Crane Form Fist and hoped to learn Tiger Form Fist. The chapter left Zhang Manqian injured after she chased him down from the second floor, while Zhang Xuezhou denied remembering the jump and grew uncertain about what had happened.

• Zhang Manqian practiced Crane Form Fist and planned to combine it with Tiger Form Fist so she could qualify for missions and access classified records.
• Zhang Xuezhou kept eating guinea fowl because he felt it was changing his body and might make movement and jumping safer when his mind was muddled.
• Zhang Manqian urged Zhang Xuezhou to hurry to Canglan Academy for new-student registration, and he left after finishing his meal.
• Zhang Manqian saw Zhang Xuezhou leap from the corridor railing and jumped after him, injuring her knees when she landed.
• Zhang Xuezhou denied jumping from the second floor and insisted he had used the stairs, though his memories began to feel confused.

Zhang Manqian became convinced that she was suffering from hallucinations after she thought she saw Zhang Xuezhou jump from the second floor, though he returned unharmed and denied it. After he came back from freshman registration, she told him she believed something was wrong with her genes too.

• Zhang Manqian insisted she had seen Zhang Xuezhou jump from the second floor, while he denied doing so and questioned his own memory.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Supreme Purity True Technique to ease Zhang Manqian’s knee pain, and she found no visible wound when she examined it.
• Zhang Manqian concluded that she had inherited the family’s mental illness and lay down, overwhelmed by the thought.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned after completing freshman registration, and Zhang Manqian confirmed he was not a hallucination by pinching him.
• Zhang Manqian told Zhang Xuezhou that she believed she had begun having hallucinations like their parents.

Zhang Manqian struggled with frightening hallucinations, but Zhang Xuezhou reassured her, and she discovered that she had reached the threshold of the Crane Form Fist. The siblings agreed to practice each other’s techniques and monitor one another’s progress.

• Zhang Manqian told Zhang Xuezhou that she had hallucinated seeing him jump off a building and feared she was seriously ill.
• Zhang Xuezhou drew on his own experience with hallucinations to reassure Zhang Manqian and suggest practical precautions.
• Zhang Manqian regained her strength, practiced the Crane Form Fist, and realized she had reached its threshold after a week.
• Zhang Manqian considered the Gene Armory and the sequences of superhumans, then encouraged Zhang Xuezhou to learn the Crane Form Fist.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian exchanged their techniques and agreed to practice a little each day and check on each other.

Ren Yisheng reflected on the dangers of uncontrolled genetic evolution and studied ways to develop mental power. He considered using people as experimental subjects, then rejected the idea as incompatible with cultivating a pure mind.

• Two men discussed Zhang Xuezhou’s academic results, possible Mental Field Control ability, and the attention various groups were paying to his family.
• The steady man argued that uncontrolled genetic evolution could turn humans into beasts, and that mental consciousness needed to develop alongside the body.
• Ren Yisheng researched mental cultivation by weighing ancient teachings against modern life and questioning what had allowed past figures to attain great heights.
• Ren Yisheng considered recruiting people as experimental subjects, then condemned the thought and began concentrating on a blank painting.

Zhang Xuezhou struggled to adjust to Canglan Academy while hoping to meet Ren Yisheng and obtain treatment for his illness. He finally encountered Ren Yisheng, who considered using him in a risky experiment, while Zhang Xuezhou wondered how to ask for confidential, free treatment.

• Zhang Xuezhou struggled with navigating Canglan Academy, keeping up with his studies, and practicing techniques with Zhang Manqian and Wu Chao.
• Zhang Xuezhou accepted that his plans to attract Ren Yisheng's attention through classes were failing and considered arranging a chance encounter.
• Ren Yisheng approached Zhang Xuezhou outside the library, and Zhang Xuezhou recognized and greeted him.
• Ren Yisheng sensed Zhang Xuezhou's depleted vitality and weighed whether to involve him in an experiment that might treat his illness.
• Zhang Xuezhou wondered how to persuade Ren Yisheng to treat him for free and keep it secret.

Zhang Xuezhou tried to grow closer to Ren Yisheng, who was weighing how to recruit him for risky cultivation tests without deceiving him. Their conversation turned into an impromptu neuroscience lesson, leaving Zhang struggling to keep up with the professor.

• Ren Yisheng considered Zhang Xuezhou's cultivation aptitude and mental illness while trying to find an honest way to enlist his help with testing.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng exchanged small talk on a bench at Canglan Academy.
• Ren Yisheng noticed Zhang Xuezhou had been sitting on Introduction to Brain Region Neuroscience and Experiments, a textbook he had co-written.
• Ren Yisheng quizzed Zhang Xuezhou on neuroscience basics, and Zhang answered several questions correctly.
• Ren Yisheng asked where dreams originated in the brain, then explained that researchers did not know and launched into a technical lecture that Zhang struggled to follow.

Ren Yisheng tried to draw Zhang Xuezhou into a discussion of his dreams and health so he could examine him, but had to switch to everyday topics when Zhang could not follow his technical explanations. After they talked about water and housing, Ren Yisheng turned the conversation toward Zhang’s health.

• Ren Yisheng realized Zhang Xuezhou’s limited knowledge kept him from engaging with the technical discussion and decided to use everyday topics instead.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned with chilled Hidden Spring mineral water, and Ren Yisheng told him not to buy expensive or cold water for him.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Yisheng that he and his older sister rented a place nearby, and Ren learned they lived in building eight on Shengteng Road.
• Ren Yisheng confirmed that he lived near the professors’ building, then told Zhang Xuezhou he looked unwell and had a dark patch between his brows.

Zhang Xuezhou discussed the Heart Incantation with Ren Yisheng, who became eager to examine it. After seeing Zhang Xuezhou read its unfamiliar characters, Ren Yisheng realized the technique offered a clear path for developing mental power.

• Zhang Xuezhou redirected Ren Yisheng's question about his health toward the shoutang and explained what he had learned about it.
• Ren Yisheng asked where Zhang Xuezhou had encountered the unfamiliar idea, and Zhang named the Heart Incantation from the Yedie River Holy Land.
• Ren Yisheng insisted on visiting Zhang Xuezhou's rental to read the Heart Incantation, and Zhang led him to the apartment on Shengteng Road.
• Ren Yisheng recalled that his old rival Wang Hao had lived in the building and noted that Wang had been dead for thirty-six years.
• Zhang Xuezhou showed Ren Yisheng his copied pages and fluently recited the Holy Land characters, astonishing him with his ability to read them.
• Ren Yisheng concluded that the Heart Incantation provided a concise, reliable way to cultivate mental power.

Ren Yisheng became fascinated with Zhang Xuezhou’s partial Heart Incantation and hoped to obtain the complete text. After Zhang Xuezhou suffered a sudden bout of confusion, Ren Yisheng used a mental technique to steady him and decided to protect and nurture him until Hongku might provide the rest.

• Ren Yisheng studied Zhang Xuezhou’s Heart Incantation draft and asked whether he had more of it.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Yisheng that Hongku had taught him the incantation and might return in ten years.
• Ren Yisheng suspected the Heart Incantation could have helped Zhang Xuezhou’s condition and lamented that the text was incomplete.
• Zhang Xuezhou questioned whether his dream world or his waking world was real, and his body began to sway.
• Ren Yisheng used a mental secret technique to repel Zhang Xuezhou’s chaotic emotions and help him recover.
• Ren Yisheng decided to provide Zhang Xuezhou with a safety net while waiting for a chance to obtain the complete Heart Incantation.

Zhang Xuezhou gave Ren Yisheng the Heart Incantation and learned that Ren hoped to meet Master Hongku and study his cultivation methods. Ren explained that his research into the mind and spirit focused on mental health, leaving Zhang to consider why real-world cultivation seemed to emphasize realms while combat relied on firearms and martial arts.

• Ren Yisheng asked why Zhang Xuezhou expected Master Hongku to seek him out, and Zhang explained that Hongku had promised to return when he was an adult.
• Ren Yisheng resolved to meet Hongku and asked Zhang to contact him when Hongku appeared; Zhang agreed.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Ren Yisheng how psychology research related to the Heart Incantation, and Ren explained that psychology studied the mind, or spirit.
• Ren Yisheng said a strong spirit helped preserve a healthy brain and clear thinking, rather than granting the combat abilities Zhang had expected.
• Zhang Xuezhou reflected that cultivation in reality seemed focused on improving realms, while people relied on firearms and martial arts instead of advanced Techniques.

Zhang Xuezhou questioned the connection between his dream and reality, then took sedatives when he felt another episode coming on. That evening, Zhang Manqian experienced a frightening vision of turning into a giant tree before waking in their rented room and recognizing it as a hallucination.

• Zhang Xuezhou wondered whether the dream or reality was real, then swallowed three fluazepam tablets to calm his mind.
• Zhang Manqian returned home, saw Zhang Xuezhou listless, and worried about their family's illnesses and their limited time to find treatment.
• Zhang Manqian suddenly lost her ability to see and touch her surroundings, then fought her panic by refusing to submit to fate.
• Zhang Manqian saw a warm, overgrown landscape shrink around her as she grew into a giant tree.
• Zhang Manqian came to in the rented room, found she could move, and realized she had experienced another hallucination.

Zhang Xuezhou questioned whether his supposedly real world might be fabricated, then reflected on how recklessly he had acted in the dream world. Wu Chao pressed him about his stalled cultivation and suspected Zhang Xuezhou’s original Realm Entry method was exceptionally advanced.

• After taking a pill, Zhang Xuezhou returned to the familiar dream world feeling strong and reconsidered whether it might be more real than his waking life.
• Zhang Xuezhou reviewed his past schemes and resolved to act less recklessly, while wondering whether reaching higher levels could help him escape a fabricated reality.
• Wu Chao noticed Zhang Xuezhou still cultivated with his old method because the Heart Incantation had not replaced it.
• Zhang Xuezhou said repeated attempts to cultivate the Heart Incantation had failed to change his foundation.
• Wu Chao concluded that Zhang Xuezhou’s original Realm Entry method might be as powerful as, or stronger than, the Heart Incantation.

After learning that the Yin Yang Great Compassion Nine Heavens Incantation blocked his progress with the Heart Incantation, Zhang Xuezhou realized he needed Zou Bugui’s lost inheritance or another powerful cultivation method. To improve their chances against Hongku, Wu Chao began considering how to use Xiong State’s forces to capture Zou Bugui.

• Wu Chao explained that Zhang Xuezhou’s repeated failures with the Heart Incantation likely came from its incompatibility with his original cultivation doctrine.
• Wu Chao described how powerful cultivation doctrines could produce Divine Abilities and identified Zou Bugui as the sect master of the once-formidable Yin-Yang Nine Heavens Sect.
• Zhang Xuezhou concluded that he needed to find Zou Bugui, while worrying that his weak cultivation left him vulnerable in the plot against Hongku.
• Zhang Xuezhou pressed Wu Chao to help solve his cultivation problem, arguing that he might otherwise be unable to help defeat Hongku.
• Wu Chao considered using his position as Xiong State’s fourth prince and its slave soldiers to capture Zou Bugui, which would help Zhang Xuezhou continue cultivating and improve Wu Chao’s own chances against Hongku.