Recaps

Hu Mang and Chen Sheng confronted He Chang at the Thunder God's Shrine after Zhou Yu seized control from the gang that had held it. Xu Qing revealed that his master might have become a Prison Warden, raising the possibility of another remnant of the divine dynasty.

• Hu Mang gained a third teammate, an old cultivator who reminded him of an unusually aged version of Uncle Ma.
• He Chang waited inside the Thunder God's Shrine with several guards and captives until the doors opened and Zhang Ping, Min Yao, and others were thrown in dead.
• Zhou Yu entered and challenged He Chang, while Chen Sheng exposed He Chang's plan to use hidden nails and lightning to make the Thunder God kill the people inside.
• Hu Mang arrived carrying severed heads and Shattering Thunder, offered He Chang a fight to the death, and forced him to surrender the shrine and leave.
• Zhou Yu reunited with his sister Zhou Tong, who identified the remaining captives as Xu Qing and Gong Lei.
• Xu Qing explained that his master, Turbid Sha Old Man, might have gone to become a Prison Warden, prompting Hu Mang and Chen Sheng to suspect another remnant of the divine dynasty.

Hu Mang and his companions secured the Thunder God's Shrine, left the mysterious Gong Lei alone, and rested inside. After waking from a strange dream of his mother as King Yama, Hu Mang ate with the group and asked Chen Sheng to explain the cultivation world and Demon-Subduing City.

• Chen Sheng explained Turbid Sha Old Man's Five Turbidities cultivation and suggested that protecting Xu Qing could earn them goodwill if his master became the Prison Warden.
• Hu Mang and the others decided to leave Gong Lei alone because her contradictory features suggested an unusual fate tied to Demon-Subduing City.
• The group rested after the Thunder God's Shrine's gates closed, and Hu Mang dreamed that his mother, dressed as King Yama, condemned him for refusing marriage and children.
• Hu Mang woke from the nightmare, joined the others for congee, and learned that Gong Lei never seemed to eat.
• Hu Mang asked Chen Sheng to teach him about cultivation, the world's powers, and the situation around Demon-Subduing City.

Hu Mang listened as Chen Sheng explained the Azure Mysterious Realm’s cultivation stages and learned that Golden Cores were unknown there. He then shared looted cultivation manuals with the local cultivators, while two figures watched Demon-Subduing City from above the thunderclouds.

• Chen Sheng explained the Dao Ancestor, the Three Pure Ones, and the four major cultivation realms to Hu Mang, Zhou Yu, and Zhou Tong.
• Chen Sheng described Yin Spirits, Yang Spirits, reincarnation, and the lineages that had inherited cultivation methods from the Upper Pure One.
• Hu Mang asked Chen Sheng about Golden Cores and recited poems about them, but Chen Sheng said he had never heard of them as a cultivation realm.
• Hu Mang compared the realm’s cultivation system with the Heavenly Gate’s and wondered whether the two worlds had related but different traditions.
• Hu Mang took out cultivation manuals looted from the dead and offered them to the gathered cultivators for study.
• Two figures watched Demon-Subduing City from above the thunderclouds.

Daoist Yun Shuo and Bai Ningjie reached Demon-Subduing City and learned that Zhang Zhixian had tried to weaken and kill its unformed Thunder Duke to claim the divine office. When Zhang’s plan apparently failed and contact with their hidden allies was lost, Yun Shuo headed into the city, while Bai Ningjie realized he had left a third possibility unexplained.

• Daoist Yun Shuo used his Bagua diagram to determine that Zhang Zhixian had reached Demon-Subduing City before them.
• Daoist Yun Shuo explained that Zhang Zhixian had drawn Rogue Cultivators to the city and sent captured families suspected of Devil Cultivation into it to weaken the Thunder Duke before claiming his divine office.
• Daoist Yun Shuo told Bai Ningjie that Zhang Zhixian’s plan had apparently gone wrong because the city was calm and their three hidden allies had lost contact with him.
• Daoist Yun Shuo said the Thunder Duke might contain the will of the Five-Thunder Demon-Subduing General, or an old monster might be hidden in the former prison; he hesitated to name a third possibility.
• Daoist Yun Shuo flew toward Demon-Subduing City to find his allies, and Bai Ningjie realized that his third possibility had not been the devil path.

Hu Mang shared the seized manuals with his companions, then learned why the most powerful techniques among them were difficult or dangerous to practice. As the group prepared to seek the Cat Garden’s inheritance, Hu Mang said they would first find out tomorrow whether the others were good or evil.

• Hu Mang shared the cultivation manuals and treasures he had seized, and the group studied them together.
• Hu Mang considered the Nine-Character Great Hand Seal and the Profound Yin Body Refining Technique, but Chen Sheng explained that the former required Buddhist practice and the latter had a deadly failure rate.
• Chen Sheng described the Profound Yin Body Refining Technique’s dangers and its need for corpse-refining methods and a three-yin living corpse, discouraging Xu Qing and Zhou Yu from trying it.
• Chen Sheng said the Cat Garden was reliable and suggested that Hu Mang’s heavenly soldier’s spear and its inheritance could make him a divine dynasty heavenly soldier.
• Chen Sheng asked Hu Mang to save a Ding Fire Cat for his granddaughter, while Zhou Yu and Xu Qing hoped to seek an opportunity there too.
• Hu Mang said they would first see the next day whether the others were good or evil.

Hu Mang studied the Profound Yin Body Refining Technique and formed the Mysterious Yin Devil Moon, then combined the method with his Blood-Piercing Essence-Reversal Art through the night. The next morning, he learned he had been judged a good person again, while old man Chen, Zhou Yu, and Xu Qing were together at Thunder God's Shrine.

• Hu Mang mapped the city's spiritual power routes and studied the Profound Yin Body Refining Technique atop Thunder God's Shrine.
• Hu Mang realized the Mysterious Yin Devil Moon was rooted in the abyss, formed it in his middle Dantian, and drew Profound Yin Black Sha into his body.
• Hu Mang circulated the Profound Yin method alongside the Blood-Piercing Essence-Reversal Art, enduring freezing cold and blood heat as both methods advanced.
• Hu Mang practiced through the night and concluded that he was exceptionally gifted at cultivating Devil Cultivation Methods.
• A divine lightning figure appeared to Hu Mang again, and he learned he had been judged a good person; old man Chen boasted while Zhou Yu and Xu Qing looked grim.

Hu Mang, Zhou Yu, and Zhou Tong reached the Spirit-Taming Cat Garden after Hu Mang reflected on the Azure Mysterious Realm’s cultivation system and his newly attained state of mind. Hu Mang and old Chen Sheng warned Zhou Tong to take the dangers seriously, then led the group inside as other cultivators followed close behind.

• Zhou Tong joined Hu Mang and old Chen Sheng, and the group chose Law Artifacts before setting out for the Cat Garden.
• Hu Mang compared the realm’s cultivation of essence, Qi, and spirit with the Heavenly Gate’s methods and considered how natural Spiritual Qi shaped each path.
• Zhou Tong told Hu Mang they were nearing the Cat Garden, where he recognized a strange familiarity in the evil-suppressing cat statues.
• Old Chen Sheng revealed that Hu Mang had already driven off watchers and warned Zhou Tong that the Cat Garden was dangerous; Zhou Tong promised to be more careful.
• Hu Mang crossed the bridge into the Cat Garden as his demonic markings and Sha Qi emerged, followed by old Chen Sheng and Zhou Tong.
• Several cultivators arrived after them and rushed into the Cat Garden.

Chen Sheng led Hu Mang and Zhou Tong through the Cat Garden’s formations into a safe courtyard filled with cats, while the pursuing cultivators entered deadly traps and were forced into a beast courtyard. Hu Mang’s returning Divine Sense and the cats’ unusual affection for him left Chen Sheng suspecting the source of his demon blood.

• Chen Sheng used the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams and Eight Mansions to guide Hu Mang and Zhou Tong into the Cat Garden’s safe courtyard, where Hu Mang’s Divine Sense returned and resonated with the formation.
• The cultivators following them were caught in the Li Fire, and a blind middle-aged man used his Eye of Devil Subjugation to lead the survivors through a passage into a beast courtyard.
• The beast courtyard’s white tiger statues began coming to life and fixing their eyes on the surviving cultivators.
• Zhou Tong admired the cats while Chen Sheng explained the formation’s dangers and identified several cat breeds; Hu Mang sketched the formation’s circuits.
• The cats flocked to Hu Mang and ignored Zhou Tong, prompting Chen Sheng to suspect that Hu Mang’s demon blood came from the wildcat family.

Hu Mang explored the Cat Garden, where his fox nature won him the attention of its demon-subduing cats and led him through trials hidden in their homes. He gained three life-saving tails and awakened a Yin Eye in the Night Eye Studio, then accepted a proud black cat as his companion.

• Chen Sheng explained that Hu Mang could earn a demon-subduing cat by winning its recognition, while he and Zhou Tong planned to offer cats food and serve as their scoopers.
• Hu Mang noticed the garden’s buildings reflected the spirit cats’ nature, and a three-tailed white cat led him into the Nine Lives Grotto.
• The white cat retrieved three life-saving cat tails from the bronze mirrors, and Hu Mang gained three fluffy tails by touching them to his body.
• Hu Mang followed a black cat into the Night Eye Studio, where the darkness transformed his Fox Sight into a Yin Eye.
• The black cat leaped onto Hu Mang’s shoulder, and he stroked it as it maintained its proud, tsundere air.

Hu Mang chose a fierce Ding Fire Cat that seemed connected to the Shattered Star Spear and entered the Cat Garden’s promotion trial, while Chen Sheng warned that Demon-Subduing City and its Thunder God might conceal a conspiracy. The chapter ended with Chen Sheng applying yin makeup to a heavenly soldier’s corpse and realizing the dead figure had been a female general.

• Hu Mang obtained a blank divine dynasty official seal from an official cat and stopped taking treasures after sensing the Cat Garden would expel him.
• Old Chen and Zhou Tong each bonded with a demon-subduing cat, and Chen Sheng determined that the other group had either died in the eight houses or escaped the Cat Garden.
• Chen Sheng warned Hu Mang that his promotion trial would likely send him to Calamity House and raised suspicions about the Thunder God, He Chang, and the strange events in Demon-Subduing City.
• Hu Mang chose a fierce red Ding Fire Cat because it stared at the Shattered Star Spear, then entered the trial with it after Zhou Tong returned from the Wind-Catching Corridor.
• Chen Sheng treated Zhou Tong’s wounds, then worked on a heavenly soldier’s corpse and recognized from its bones that the dead soldier had been a female general.

Hu Mang broke through several formations in the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams as his divine office as a Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier awakened. Meanwhile, Chen Sheng used Ghost Makeup to prepare a dead female general as a means of survival, and Hu Mang’s growing power left him poised to surpass his former peak.

• Hu Mang crossed the Kan Trigram by sensing and killing its water ghosts, then broke the formation with a strike that split its spiritual web.
• Chen Sheng finished painting a female heavenly general’s face onto her bones and used Ghost Makeup to draw the ghost’s likeness onto a removable sheet of human skin.
• Chen Sheng explained to Zhou Tong that the Ghost Makeup could temporarily let a ghost possess whoever wore the skin, while concealing that a greater ritual could cost him his remaining lifespan.
• Hu Mang passed through the Kun, Zhen, and Xun Trigrams, suffering severe injuries and blood loss as a different, majestic presence began to rise within him.
• Hu Mang’s awakened divine office revealed him as a Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier, a Divine Dao Law Enforcer whose spear carried the force of wind, thunder, and order.

Hu Mang advanced through the Cat Garden’s increasingly dangerous formation and faced the original Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier. After Hu Mang survived her first two spear strikes, she paused before her final attack and beckoned the fire cat, which leaped to her.

• Hu Mang’s presence activated the remaining trigram formations, while divine-office inheritors sensed the disturbance and the Devil-Slaying Saber Wielder rushed toward the Cat Garden.
• The fire cat swallowed the flames in the Fire House, allowing Hu Mang to break through the Dui trigram’s Shattered Mirror Wall and awaken eighteen thunder patterns and the Shattered Star Spear’s Yang Spear ability.
• The original Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier emerged and thrust at Hu Mang, but he redirected her first strike with his Mysterious Yin force while the fire cat countered her flaming hair.
• Hu Mang used the Moon Arc Linking Life Instruction to evade her second spear attack, though the effort burned away one of his fox tails and left him badly scorched.
• As the silver-armored woman gathered her flames into a final, potentially fatal strike, she paused, beckoned to the fire cat, and watched it leap affectionately to her.

Hu Mang acquired the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier divine office and escaped the Cat Garden with Chen Sheng and Zhou Tong, but the Devil-Slaying Bladesman began hunting them. Hu Mang sent his companions away and vanished to choose a battlefield, leaving the confrontation imminent.

• The mature heavenly soldier demonstrated the Three Devil-Subduing Forms, and Hu Mang absorbed her remaining intent and gained the Heavenly Soldier Imprint and its authorities.
• The fiery cat entered Hu Mang’s imprint and formed a cocoon as Hu Mang left the collapsing Fire House with it.
• Chen Sheng and Zhou Tong helped Hu Mang toward Thunder God's Shrine, but Hu Mang led them through the Cat Garden’s back exit using his new knowledge of the city.
• The Devil-Slaying Bladesman killed the one-eyed man outside the Cat Garden, and Hu Mang sensed the danger as the Heavenly Eye Technique revealed their position.
• Hu Mang used his divine office to send Chen Sheng and Zhou Tong back to the Cat Garden’s front gate, then left alone to find a suitable battlefield as the Devil-Slaying Bladesman arrived.

Hu Mang reached the Hundred-Well Abyss and confronted Madman Jiang, whose Saber Domain shattered the Heavenly Soldier’s assault and nearly overwhelmed him. Hu Mang broke through to the third level of the Blood-Piercing Essence-Reversal Art and turned the fight around, pinning his spear against Jiang’s Yin Saber.

• Hu Mang used Armored Horse Talismans to reach the Hundred-Well Abyss, a formation of Demon-Subduing Wells centered on a damaged Demon-Suppressing Seal.
• Madman Jiang arrived, and Hu Mang’s Star-Following Great Spear awakened its Heavenly Soldier imprint, drawing power from the wells to unleash the Heavenly Gang Net.
• Madman Jiang’s Saber Domain split Hu Mang’s attack, and Jiang declared that Hu Mang was not the person he had expected.
• Madman Jiang filled the abyss with phantom bladesmen and attacked Hu Mang with the ghostly nature of the Yin Saber.
• Hu Mang broke through to the third level of the Blood-Piercing Essence-Reversal Art, combined spear and sword techniques, and forced Madman Jiang’s saber back.

Hu Mang used Xie Xianyu’s sword techniques and the Demon-Subduing site’s mechanisms to turn Madman Jiang’s Saber Domain against him. After surviving the site’s thunder and nets, Hu Mang launched two Evil-Subduing Divine Thunder at his frozen opponent.

• Hu Mang used Wind Cuts the Black Curtain to weather Madman Jiang’s Saber Domain and transform his spear into a bow.
• Hu Mang fired lightning arrows into the spiritual conduits, summoning three thunderclouds that Madman Jiang cut apart at the cost of damaging his Yin Saber.
• Hu Mang triggered the Demon-Subduing Wells, which unleashed Qianyang Devil-Subduing Nets and then Taiyin Divine Thunder against both fighters.
• Hu Mang endured the lightning in a broken well, while the Demon-Subduing Wells exploded and left Madman Jiang trapped in ice and a golden lightning net.
• Hu Mang armed two Evil-Subduing Divine Thunder, shot them at Madman Jiang, and retreated.

Hu Mang used the Ghost Makeup and the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier’s spear techniques to fight Madman Jiang, while learning from the soldier’s experience. He severed the Devil-Slaying Bladesman’s sword-wielding arm and won the battle before the Ghost Makeup had burned away halfway.

• Madman Jiang shattered his blade domain and used living blade lights to neutralize Hu Mang’s two Evil-Subduing Divine Thunder charges, then emerged with a half-blade.
• Hu Mang realized his fragment absorbed most of the thunder damage and put on the Ghost Makeup, taking on the appearance and killing intent of the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier.
• Hu Mang activated Heavenly Star Falls and fought Madman Jiang amid the thunderclouds, observing and copying the soldier’s spear techniques as the Ghost Makeup began to wear off.
• After another thirty breaths, Hu Mang used four heavenly eyes to distract Madman Jiang, then disguised a blood-red sword strike as a spear attack.
• Hu Mang’s Blood-Piercing Essence-Reversal Art severed Madman Jiang’s sword-wielding arm, winning the fight while the Ghost Makeup remained only half-consumed.

Beneath the Demon-Subduing Well, Daoist Xuanyin and the remaining unorthodox monsters sacrificed their cultivation to escape as Hu Mang fought amid the upheaval. A Yang Spirit intervened, but an Innate Thunder Eye appeared and fled into the thunderclouds, drawing the Yang Spirit away in pursuit.

• Daoist Xuanyin and Old Ghost Rotten Bones agreed to sacrifice their Three Flowers and Five Qi and merge their souls into Xuanyin’s second disciple to escape the well.
• When the Devil-Subduing Seal weakened, Xuanyin and the other trapped monsters detonated their Three Flowers and Five Qi, blasting a pillar of destructive energy from the well.
• Hu Mang recognized Xuanyin among the battered bodies erupting from the well, then faced a Yang Spirit that attacked him with divine thunder.
• Hu Mang blocked the Yang Spirit’s thunder with his Shattered Thunder Great Spear and Qianyang True Fire, cracking the spear and burying himself in the earth.
• An Innate Thunder Eye opened in the well and sent a thunder-god-shaped lightning bolt into the clouds; the Yang Spirit changed into a young man in white and pursued it.

Hu Mang revived after the battle in the Hundred-Well Abyss, discovered that the Mysterious Yin Rebirth Technique and Yang Lightning had improved his cultivation, and found clues that Madman Jiang might still be alive. The fragment then transported Hu Mang back to his room, where he reunited with "Dad".

• Hu Mang revived when the life-preserving cat tail and Crimson Moon Fox hairs used his corpse to perform the Mysterious Yin Rebirth Technique, though the process stripped away his fur.
• Hu Mang recovered his Shattering Thunder Long Spear and Storage Bag, found the Mysterious Yin Old Daoist's sealed Storage Bag and a bone covered in tiny characters, and discovered that most of his blocked acupoints had cleared.
• Hu Mang's Heavenly Soldier Divine Office absorbed the broken blade from Madman Jiang's severed arm and revealed that it contained one half of the Devil-Slaying Bladesman, suggesting Jiang might not be dead.
• The white-light fragment transported Hu Mang back to his room, while Madman Jiang's body regenerated as shadows returned his sacrificed memories and he remembered being Jiang Kaiming of the Azure Maple Sect.
• Hu Mang dressed, checked that Spirit Pivot No. 1 still worked, and found "Dad" waiting in his mother's room; "Dad" greeted him, and Hu Mang asked whether he needed charging.

Hu Mang returned to his old neighborhood after recovering his cultivation and reassured his mother and Doctor Sun through Divine Sense Communication. Doctor Sun confirmed that Hu Mang’s Divine Sense had reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, leaving Hu Mang to realize how much stronger it had become.

• Hu Mang stayed home with his mysterious “Dad,” went for a walk, and called his mother after she angrily demanded to know where he had been.
• Hu Mang told Mama Hu that his cultivation had recovered and explained away his missed calls as a week of hospital treatment.
• Mama Hu had Hu Mang use Divine Sense Communication and confirmed that his cultivation had returned.
• Hu Mang spoke with Mama Hu, warned her that he might miss calls during more treatment, and then called Doctor Sun.
• Doctor Sun sensed Hu Mang’s Divine Sense at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage and asked how he had recovered so quickly.

Hu Mang concealed his unusual Divine Sense and missing blood markings from Doctor Sun, who invited him to the Demon Metropolis to study his apparent bloodline evolution. After ending the call, Hu Mang contacted Sun Hu, intending to reconnect with Zheng Qingbo’s underground network as a channel for selling resources from the Azure Mysterious Realm.

• Hu Mang claimed his Divine Sense recovery came from a cultivation breakthrough, and Doctor Sun asked him to get a physical examination.
• Doctor Sun explained that the Hidden Claw acupoint had been approved for research as an artificial acupoint and said he would remain in the Demon Metropolis.
• Hu Mang explained away his vanished blood markings as shedding caused by bloodline evolution, prompting Doctor Sun to invite him to the Demon Metropolis for research.
• Doctor Sun considered whether Hu Mang’s changes supported his old hypothesis about acquired acupoints evolving within human Essence Blood.
• Hu Mang returned Sun Hu’s call and learned that Zheng Qingbo had sent greetings after Hu Mang abruptly left the underground world.
• Hu Mang decided to reconnect with Zheng Qingbo’s network so he could sell resources from the Azure Mysterious Realm.

Hu Mang considered how to handle his lethal Law Artifacts and lightning crystals, then returned to the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower with the fragment. Meanwhile, Chen Xiaosan livestreamed his ghostly delivery rounds and tried to reach Hu Mang, who remained out of signal range.

• Hu Mang called former contacts and classmates, told his counselor that he had regained Foundation Establishment, and failed to reach Chen Xiaosan.
• Chen Xiaosan livestreamed himself delivering food around Great Prosperity City, encountering frightening ghosts and supernatural disturbances.
• At the Among the Clouds Porridge Shop, Chen Xiaosan flirted with Sister Zhao before discovering her human skin had fallen onto the takeout bag.
• Chen Xiaosan ended his livestream to call Hu Mang, but Hu Mang was out of service range.
• Hu Mang returned to the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower and went up to the eighth floor carrying the fragment.

Hu Mang found that the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower could recharge the fragment and considered asking a former classmate for help extracting power from Lightning Crystals. Meanwhile, Little Xu prepared to train at headquarters and revealed his one regret: he wanted to fight the Heavenly Blood Python before leaving.

• Hu Mang used the tower’s eighth level to recharge the fragment, then switched it off before the charge could teleport him away again.
• Hu Mang considered using a formation or cultivation machinery to draw power from a Lightning Crystal and thought of his former materials-science classmate.
• Hu Mang recalled how he and the Four Heavenly Kings had once blocked Pine Mountain Academy’s gates for seven days and nights.
• Hu Mang remembered that he still needed to get his physical examination report done.
• Little Xu’s colleagues congratulated him on his upcoming training at headquarters, where they expected him to form a core.
• Little Xu told Brother Zhang that he wanted to fight the Heavenly Blood Python before leaving.

Hu Mang learned he needed to take a written exam to obtain his Foundation Establishment qualification certificate, then caught up with Chen Xiaosan and resumed cultivating in the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower. After sleeping through the afternoon, he ordered replacement detectors and a household Foundation Establishment device, only to discover he had run out of money.

• Hu Mang had his lower Dantian examined, hid his records from Doctor Zhou, and learned he had to register for a Foundation Establishment qualification exam.
• Hu Mang registered for the exam and was told to attend the following day, though his recultivation meant he could not sit it with cultivators his age.
• Chen Xiaosan called Hu Mang from Great Prosperity City, where he was delivering takeout, and invited him to reconnect with their old group online.
• Hu Mang cultivated in the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower and found that Azure Mysterious Realm techniques were much harder to practice on Earth Star.
• Hu Mang ordered replacement detectors and a household Foundation Establishment device, then found that his balance was insufficient to buy food.

Hu Mang bought expensive testing artifacts despite having little accessible money, then learned that Father Hu had analyzed the cultivation manuals and could help him practice a divine ability. He rejoined his four friends online, told them he had recovered and would take the Foundation Establishment exam, and wondered which friend could lend him money.

• Hu Mang worried that his accessible funds would not cover the equipment and engineering supplies he needed, since his overseas savings were out of reach and selling Spirit Stones risked attracting attention.
• Father Hu reported that most of the incomplete cultivation manuals were difficult or unsuitable for Earth Star, but offered to explain a version of the Nine-Character Great Hand Seal with a high cultivation success rate.
• Hu Mang gave Father Hu a thunder crystal despite Father Hu's agreement with Lady Hu not to accept payment for explaining cultivation methods.
• Chen Xiaosan summoned Hu Mang to the group chat, where the Four Heavenly Kings teased him and asked about his absence.
• Hu Mang shared his test report, explained that his surgery had succeeded and that he had reached Foundation Establishment again, and said he would take the exam the next day.
• The five friends played Heavenly Gate Journey to the West while privately checking on Hu Mang, who began wondering which of them had money.

Hu Mang asked his old friends for money to fund a renovation project, and Third Brother, Fourth Brother, and Boss Gu came through with help. While talking with Boss Gu, Hu Mang learned about his sword Compatibility and warned him that seeking dangerous battles overseas could bring a powerful coalition down on him.

• Hu Mang reassured Third Brother and Fourth Brother about his health, but both sent him Spirit Coins anyway.
• Hu Mang accepted Fourth Brother’s 10,000 Spirit Coins after learning he was staying with his mother-in-law, and Third Brother sent him 25,000.
• Hu Mang told Boss Gu he needed 400,000 to 500,000 Spirit Coins for a renovation project, and Boss Gu agreed to transfer the money.
• Boss Gu revealed that he had repeatedly withdrawn from Golden Core breakthroughs to pursue a National Standard Golden Core and had reached 82 percent Compatibility with an ordinary flying sword.
• Gu Yunshu asked whether overseas life-and-death battles could advance his swordsmanship, and Hu Mang warned that powerful enemies would unite against him and that safe places to form a Golden Core were scarce.
• Gu Yunshu abandoned the idea, while Hu Mang considered getting his Compatibility with Shattering Thunder tested again.