Recaps

The Clear Wind Pavilion struggled to contain a wave of diarrhea that had spread from its outer sect into the inner sect, while its elders and summoned physicians searched for a cure. Watching from the Zhuo Ning Immortal Abode, Yi Xuan praised the virus bomb and let Liang Shi decide whether to activate more viruses.

• Xuanxuanzi told the eight grand elders that the third elder had caught the same illness as the outer disciples, prompting them to fly to the outer sect and investigate.
• The illness spread through the inner sect, where disciples prepared vessels as a foul stench filled the Clear Wind Pavilion.
• Xuanxuanzi summoned renowned mortal physicians and offered them a chance to enter the immortal sect if they could treat Fang Yuan.
• The physicians diagnosed Fang Yuan with diarrhea and prescribed treatment after Xuanxuanzi ordered them to follow their diagnosis.
• Yi Xuan praised the virus bomb as Liang Shi asked whether to activate other viruses, and Yi Xuan told him to use his own judgment.

Xuanxuanzi enlisted mortal physicians to stop the Clear Wind Pavilion disciples’ diarrhea, and their folk remedies worked after the doses were increased. Liang Shi revealed that the symptoms came from a controllable, Spiritual Qi-compatible virus complex, and as new illnesses spread through the sect, Xuanxuanzi began coughing too.

• Xuanxuanzi summoned mortal physicians and more than a hundred disciples to test remedies for diarrhea.
• The physicians increased their doses, and the disciples who took the livestock remedies recovered from their diarrhea fastest.
• Yi Xuan observed the tests while Liang Shi explained that the Virus Bomb contained controllable viruses compatible with Spiritual Qi.
• The infected disciples developed new symptoms, including coughing and sneezing, even as their diarrhea stopped.
• Xuanxuanzi coughed, and the disciples realized that the sect master might have been infected too.

Clear Wind Pavilion was overwhelmed by a wave of illnesses, and its supreme elders suspected Zhuo Ning was responsible. Zhuo Ning unknowingly bluffed his way into making them fear what he might do next.

• Nearly everyone in Clear Wind Pavilion fell ill, while the mortal physicians remained unharmed and struggled to treat the growing number of symptoms.
• The eight supreme elders returned and questioned Xuanxuanzi, then heard from a physician that the illnesses were treatable but multiplying as patients took medicine.
• The grand supreme elder wondered whether the outbreak was connected to Zhuo Ning, so the supreme elders hurried to the back mountain.
• Zhuo Ning mistook the elders' visit for a possible threat but confidently claimed his methods were only tricks and could have been better.
• The supreme elders interpreted Zhuo Ning's words as a threat, while Yi Xuan and Liang Shi exclaimed that a blind cat had stumbled upon a dead mouse.

The Clear Wind Pavilion’s elders realized the disciples’ recurring illnesses could threaten the sect, but feared Zhuo Ning might reach Autumn Leaf City if they released him. Liang Shi and Yi Xuan escalated their attack by fully activating the viral bombs inside the disciples.

• A report that an outer sect disciple had fainted from severe diarrhea shattered the elders’ confidence that the illnesses were harmless.
• The first grand elder concluded that mortal physicians could only suppress the symptoms and proposed releasing Zhuo Ning, but the elders feared he could reach Autumn Leaf City with Greater Teleportation Talismans.
• The Clear Wind Pavilion’s elders decided to keep Zhuo Ning imprisoned for the remaining nine days until the appointed date.
• The household Attendants watched Yi Xuan nervously after seeing Xuanxuanzi’s suffering and realizing Yi Xuan’s power.
• Liang Shi learned of the elders’ decision through the Biochemical Mosquito, and he and Yi Xuan fully activated the viral bombs inside the Clear Wind Pavilion’s disciples.

Liang Shi confronted the Clear Wind Pavilion grand elders, whose disciples were being ravaged by the Virus Bomb, and cured the guards in exchange for Zhuo Ning’s release. With only four days left to reach Autumn Leaf City, Liang Shi sent Zhuo Ning off in a towering cylinder after Yi Xuan ordered it ignited.

• As sickness spread through the Clear Wind Pavilion and a Spirit Transformation cultivator died, the first grand elder decided to release Zhuo Ning rather than let the sect’s disciples keep suffering.
• Liang Shi arrived at the mountain gate and admitted responsibility for the sect’s afflictions, demanding that the grand elders release Zhuo Ning.
• Liang Shi cured the sick guards, and the first grand elder dispelled the formation holding Zhuo Ning.
• Liang Shi reunited with Zhuo Ning, then placed him inside a towering cylindrical object.
• Yi Xuan ordered the cylinder ignited, and it soared into the sky with Zhuo Ning inside.

Liang Shi used a bioroid decoy to cure the Clear Wind Pavilion’s disciples while escaping the elders’ attempt to kill him. Zhuo Ning was launched toward Yi Xuan, who hinted that the journey might still arrive in time for the succession contest.

• Zhuo Ning escaped the Clear Wind Pavilion aboard a rocket, while its elders surrounded Liang Shi and demanded he solve their problem.
• Liang Shi contacted Yi Xuan, then pretended to perform a technique as the Pavilion’s disciples began recovering.
• The first grand elder offered Liang Shi an elder’s position, then beheaded him when he refused.
• Liang Shi’s severed head spoke before going still, and the elders learned too late that he had sent a bioroid in his place.
• Yi Xuan contacted Zhuo Ning in the crew capsule, and Zhuo Ning worried they would miss the contest with only four days remaining.
• Yi Xuan asked Zhuo Ning whether he had heard the saying, “DF Express, mission guaranteed.”

Yi Xuan arranged for Zhuo Ning to travel to Autumn Leaf City by rocket while he and Lin Li used Greater Teleportation Talismans to reach the city. Zhuo Ning landed safely in a crew capsule, and Yi Xuan's display of Divine Sense left the other Attendants too intimidated to challenge him.

• Yi Xuan told Zhuo Ning to wait and assured him there would be enough time, then ended the video link.
• Yi Xuan bet Lin Li that Zhuo Ning would reach Autumn Leaf City within four days and traveled there with Lin Li and several Attendants using Greater Teleportation Talismans.
• The group arrived outside Autumn Leaf City on the morning of the fourth day without seeing Zhuo Ning, and the Attendants assumed Yi Xuan had failed.
• Yi Xuan used his Divine Sense to carry the Attendants' senses high into the sky, where they saw Zhuo Ning's crew capsule descend and land.
• Zhuo Ning stepped out of the capsule, and the frightened Attendants lowered their heads and stood obediently aside.

Zhuo Ning explained to Yi Xuan that he was the old Immortal Emperor’s only biological son and had been added to the succession contest as the emperor’s final, selfish wish. The chapter left Yi Xuan wondering whether Zhuo Ning’s former Martial Dao ideals had been abandoned as he competed for the throne.

• Zhuo Ning accompanied the Liang Kingdom’s imperial family to the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom, and the journey passed without incident.
• Zhuo Ning told Yi Xuan that the old Immortal Emperor had relied on a stand-in to father most of his many children, but had fathered Zhuo Ning himself by accident.
• Zhuo Ning explained that his mother died when he was young and that his low-grade Spirit Root left him bullied in the Heavenly Palace, leading him to leave and cultivate the Martial Dao.
• The old Immortal Emperor added Zhuo Ning to the list of throne contenders because he could not bear to pass his life’s work to someone unrelated to him.
• Yi Xuan asked whether Zhuo Ning would compete for the throne to fulfill the old Immortal Emperor’s wish and wondered whether Zhuo Ning’s old ideals had changed.

Zhuo Ning told Yi Xuan he wanted to seize the throne to transform the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom into a second Xia Kingdom, where technology could empower ordinary people. Yi Xuan agreed to help and resolved to make the entire Cultivation Realm a foundation for future exploration of the stars.

• Yi Xuan doubted Zhuo Ning could avoid being corrupted by the throne, but Zhuo Ning said he sought power to bring change, not to serve his father.
• Zhuo Ning explained that the Xia Kingdom and Yi Xuan's technology had shown him ordinary people could stand tall before cultivators.
• Yi Xuan recognized that he had spread technology through the Southern Frontier mainly to support the Xia Kingdom, and decided to prepare the entire Cultivation Realm for interstellar exploration.
• Yi Xuan agreed to help Zhuo Ning turn the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom into a second Xia Kingdom.
• Zhuo Ning reminded Yi Xuan of his promise to help him reach the pinnacle of the Martial Dao, then said the pinnacle of a single planet was too low.

After returning with the Liang Kingdom's royal family, Zhuo Ning gained national fame and married the Liang princess before introducing his friend Yi Xuan to his assembled subordinates. Wu Xingyan belittled Yi Xuan and lectured Zhuo Ning, leaving Zhuo Ning increasingly displeased.

• Zhuo Ning returned to Blazing Sun's immortal court with the Liang Kingdom's royal family, and their reception, submission, and marriage alliance proceeded smoothly.
• The immortal nation celebrated its acquisition of the Liang Kingdom, and Zhuo Ning's wedding to the Liang princess brought the festivities to a close.
• Zhuo Ning summoned his subordinates and introduced Yi Xuan, whose low cultivation led many of them to mock him through Divine Sense.
• Wu Xingyan warned Zhuo Ning against complacency and criticized his choice of friends, while the Attendants watched with knowing smiles.
• Zhuo Ning kept a receptive expression as Wu Xingyan continued lecturing, but his face grew increasingly dark.

Yi Xuan exposed Wu Xingyan and Zhuo Ning’s other subordinates for failing to search for Zhuo Ning when the Clear Wind Pavilion held him captive. When Wu Xingyan attacked Yi Xuan, the Black Tortoise crushed him, leaving Zhuo Ning’s hall in shock.

• Yi Xuan mocked Wu Xingyan’s self-important speech, then questioned him about failing to search for Zhuo Ning while he was held by the Clear Wind Pavilion.
• Zhuo Ning realized that most of his subordinates had done nothing to find him and warned them not to take advantage of his past lenience.
• Wu Xingyan accused Yi Xuan of misleading Zhuo Ning and charged at him with his Integrated Body Realm strength.
• The Black Tortoise seized Wu Xingyan and crushed him into a rain of blood, horrifying everyone in the hall.

Zhuo Ning demonstrated the upgraded Black Tortoise by killing Wu Xingyan in one blow, revealing the weapon’s overwhelming strength. He and Yi Xuan discussed how to raise Zhuo Ning’s National Fortune before the ailing Immortal Emperor died.

• Zhuo Ning learned that the Black Tortoise had far exceeded his expectations and crushed Wu Xingyan with a single strike.
• Zhuo Ning’s subordinates, awed and frightened by the display, advised him to win over more powers, recruit experts, and gain influence in the court and army.
• Yi Xuan asked Zhuo Ning how National Fortune was gained and measured.
• Zhuo Ning explained that National Fortune came from contribution and control, and that an annual ancestral ceremony revealed each contender’s fortune through the National Fortune Great Sun.
• Zhuo Ning revealed that he had ranked last in previous years and that the Immortal Emperor’s worsening health left little time to surpass the other princes.

Yi Xuan put a plan in motion by sending Zhuo Ning and his bionic double into the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom, where men from the Southern Frontier watched farmers and claimed they could grow over a thousand jin of grain per mu without human labor. Old Man Liu, desperate to afford medicine for his sick son, stayed behind to ask whether the claim was true.

• Yi Xuan told Zhuo Ning to follow his men’s suggestions, then revealed a bionic man made to look exactly like him.
• Yi Xuan taught Zhuo Ning to operate the double and took him out of the immortal dynasty, leaving the bionic Zhuo Ning in the immortal residence.
• A month later, strange Southern Frontier men appeared in the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom’s fields, each accompanied by a steel giant.
• One young man told curious villagers that Southern Frontier farming needed no people and yielded over a thousand jin per mu, prompting them to laugh at him.
• Old Man Liu asked the young man if the claim was true because his family needed a good harvest to pay for his sick son’s medicine.

On Zhuo Ning’s orders, an Imperial University student demonstrated a steel giant’s plowing machine and offered farmers improved seeds in Blazing Sun. The villagers rushed to bring their seeds for treatment, while similar demonstrations spread across the Immortal Kingdom.

• A young agricultural student told Old Man Liu that Prince Ning had sent students to help farmers and offered him high-yield seeds.
• The student’s steel giant transformed into a machine and plowed Old Man Liu’s field in moments.
• The villagers mistook the machine’s work for an immortal’s power, and Old Man Liu accepted the seeds.
• The student offered to double the yield of the villagers’ own seeds, prompting many to hurry home and fetch them.
• Agricultural students from Imperial University traveled from village to village across the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom on Zhuo Ning’s orders.

Yi Xuan and Zhuo Ning sent Xia Kingdom students and specialized robots across the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom to win ordinary people’s support through agriculture, medicine, and education. The villagers welcomed Prince Ning’s students, and Old Man Liu’s son recovered, prompting the family to pray for Zhuo Ning to win the throne.

• Yi Xuan persuaded Zhuo Ning to focus on ordinary people, arguing that they vastly outnumbered immortal cultivators and could become the foundation of his influence.
• Zhuo Ning returned to the Xia Kingdom with Yi Xuan and recruited agricultural, medical, and education students from Imperial University.
• Agricultural students and their robots helped villagers improve farming and solve problems across the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom.
• Yi Xuan and Zhuo Ning sent medical and education students from village to village, where people welcomed their services.
• Medical students and robots treated Old Man Liu’s son, and Old Man Liu’s family set up a longevity tablet for Zhuo Ning and prayed for his victory.

Imperial University students brought improvements to villages across the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom, while Zhuo Ning’s efforts to gain support at court made no progress. When the Barbarian Clan invaded, Zhuo Ning stayed silent as the other princes took up positions for war, leaving the old immortal emperor to entrust the kingdom’s defense to his sons as his life neared its end.

• Villagers such as Old Man Liu grew hopeful as Prince Ning’s students improved crops and helped their families.
• Yi Xuan gathered information about the kingdom through the students’ robots, while Zhuo Ning resolved to transform the kingdom into a second Xia Kingdom.
• After three months of no progress among neutral forces, Zhuo Ning’s subordinates worried that he was losing ground in the contest for the throne.
• The Barbarian Clan invaded the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom and neighboring kingdoms, prompting the old immortal emperor to order resistance.
• Every prince except Zhuo Ning volunteered for the war, but Zhuo Ning remained silent, so the old immortal emperor sent the other princes to defend the north and kept the fourth prince at court.
• The old immortal emperor entrusted the kingdom to his sons because his Five Decays of a Celestial Person had reached their final stage.

Zhuo Ning declined the old Immortal Emperor’s offer to lead the war and returned to his Aerospace Mothership while the princes fought the Barbarian Clan. As the year ended, Yi Xuan returned with Zhuo Ning for the New Year’s ancestral rites, where the old Immortal Emperor would inspect each contender’s National Fortune and reveal whether Yi Xuan’s plan had worked.

• Zhuo Ning told the old Immortal Emperor he lacked the ability to lead troops or govern, then left the immortal court and returned to his Aerospace Mothership.
• The Immortal Kingdom’s princes marched north, but the First Prince and Twenty-Seventh Prince held their fronts while the other princes lost their military authority and returned to court.
• A bountiful autumn harvest raised Zhuo Ning’s standing among the common people, even as the other princes focused on war and court affairs.
• As the Barbarian Clan’s attacks intensified, the Hundred Alliance Immortal Kingdom lost more than a dozen small countries before its imperial family raised enough troops to hold the line.
• Yi Xuan returned with Zhuo Ning to the Blazing Sun immortal court for the New Year’s ancestral rites, where the old Immortal Emperor would examine the contenders’ National Fortune.

On New Year’s Day, the princes tested their National Fortune before the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom’s court. Zhuo Ning’s slow-building light surpassed the fourth prince’s, surprising the old Immortal Emperor and leaving him eager to back Zhuo Ning’s claim to the throne.

• Yi Xuan attended the imperial ancestral rites as a guest elder at Zhuo Ning’s residence while the old Immortal Emperor prepared to reveal the princes’ National Fortune.
• The old Immortal Emperor used the secret Technique to summon the National Fortune Great Sun, with blood representing the absent eldest prince and twenty-seventh prince.
• The fourth prince drew forth a brilliant display of National Fortune, while the other attending princes produced much weaker results.
• Zhuo Ning activated the Great Sun, whose light gradually grew until the crowd judged it brighter than the fourth prince’s.
• The fourth prince suppressed his anger, and the old Immortal Emperor decided Zhuo Ning could become Immortal Emperor if he received further support.

At the ancestral worship ceremony, Zhuo Ning's National Fortune was dwarfed by the eldest prince's, whose military victories had given him an immense lead. Yi Xuan learned the eldest prince claimed to have no interest in the throne, but remained wary and asked to compare Zhuo Ning's National Fortune with its level the previous year.

• The twenty-seventh prince's National Fortune appeared on par with the fourth prince's, while the eldest prince's far surpassed every other prince's.
• Yi Xuan realized it could take Zhuo Ning fifteen years or more to overtake the eldest prince, a delay the ailing old immortal emperor might not survive.
• After the ceremony ended, Yi Xuan asked Zhuo Ning why the eldest prince's National Fortune was so high, and Zhuo Ning explained his hundreds of years of military service.
• Zhuo Ning told Yi Xuan that the eldest prince had repeatedly said he had no interest in the throne, reassuring Yi Xuan without fully easing his doubts.
• Yi Xuan asked Zhuo Ning to show him his National Fortune from the previous year, and summoned No. 01 to calculate how much it had increased.

Yi Xuan and Zhuo Ning learned that the First Prince could gain National Fortune for years by fighting the Barbarian Clan, so they revised their plans to transform the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom. After the ancestral rites reshaped the princes’ alliances, Zhuo Dao heard a secret proposal from Uncle Qin.

• No. 01 estimated that Zhuo Ning would need thirty years to surpass the First Prince, whose National Fortune could keep growing during a war expected to last ten years or more.
• Yi Xuan and Zhuo Ning decided to pursue a broader but moderate transformation of the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom to gain National Fortune.
• The princes who had lost hope of claiming the throne joined the Fourth Prince, judging Zhuo Ning’s advantage too uncertain and his support too weak.
• The First Prince calmly returned to studying the battle against the Barbarian Clan, while Zhuo Dao raged upon learning that Zhuo Ning had surpassed him in National Fortune.
• Uncle Qin warned Zhuo Dao to focus on the First Prince and whispered another way to become Immortal Emperor, leaving Zhuo Lie stunned.

Zhuo Ning and Yi Xuan promoted photovoltaic power across the Blazing Sun Immortal Kingdom while the fourth prince prepared political schemes, but a Barbarian Clan invasion shattered the kingdom’s stability. After returning to the immortal capital, Zhuo Ning heard the twenty-seventh prince accuse the first prince of betraying the kingdom and opening the defenses to the enemy.

• The fourth prince’s advisers devised plans against the first prince, the twenty-seventh prince, and Zhuo Ning before the first court assembly of the New Year.
• Yi Xuan and Zhuo Ning toured the kingdom to promote photovoltaic power, and Yi Xuan brought Imperial University students from the Xia Kingdom to prepare for its wider rollout.
• At the first court assembly, news arrived that the north had fallen to a full-scale Barbarian Clan invasion and that the two princes resisting it were missing.
• The Barbarian Clan routed the Hundred Alliance’s forces and captured more than a dozen small kingdoms, while Great Qian withdrew and rebuilt its defensive line.
• The twenty-seventh prince returned after a Six-Tribulation Loose Immortal rescued Zhuo Dao at great cost, and the old immortal emperor saved the badly injured protector.
• Zhuo Ning entered the Heavenly Palace and heard the twenty-seventh prince accuse the first prince of defecting and opening the northern defenses to the Barbarian Clan.

Fellow Daoist Qin showed the imperial court the Barbarian Clan’s assault on the north, where the First Prince and his forces had joined the enemy. As the battle began, the royal grand elders helped Fellow Daoist Qin escape with the Twenty-Seventh Prince so they could warn the Immortal Emperor.

• Fellow Daoist Qin used the Imaging Technique to show the imperial court the Barbarian Clan’s army overwhelming the northern city’s defenders.
• The Barbarian Clan broke the city’s defensive formation, then revealed the First Prince and his former army among its ranks.
• The royal grand elders learned that former allies, including royal Loose Immortals, had defected to the Barbarian Clan.
• Fellow Daoist Qin warned that the Barbarian Clan had blocked outside communication, and the royal grand elders asked him to take the Twenty-Seventh Prince to alert the Immortal Emperor.
• The royal grand elders covered their retreat as Fellow Daoist Qin escaped the battlefield with the Twenty-Seventh Prince.

After the first prince defected to the Barbarian Clan, the Immortal Kingdom’s court focused on stopping the invasion and ordered reinforcements to the northern border. Zhuo Ning and Yi Xuan stayed at court while Liang Shi continued working on photovoltaic power generation.

• The old Immortal Emperor dismissed the first prince’s betrayal and turned the court’s attention to resisting the Barbarian Clan.
• Mr. Qin reported that Immortal Emperor Daoyi had not yet replied, while the elderly imperial uncle led imperial elders and an army north to delay the enemy.
• The court agreed to reinforce the elderly imperial uncle but struggled to find enough powerful Loose Immortals.
• The fourth prince proposed ordering the major sects to send their experts, and Zhuo Ning supported the plan by pointing out that the Barbarian Clan threatened everyone.
• The old Immortal Emperor ordered all sect Loose Immortals who had surpassed the third tribulation to go north and help defend the border.
• Zhuo Ning and Yi Xuan decided to remain at court, left photovoltaic power generation to Liang Shi, and warned him not to go north.

As the Barbarian Clan’s invasion consumed the north and the old Immortal Emperor’s condition worsened, Zhuo Dao revealed that he planned to take the throne. Mr. Qin appeared as his ally, then revealed that he was the old Immortal Emperor’s supposedly murdered stand-in and Zhuo Dao’s true father.

• The old imperial uncle reported that the Barbarian Clan had advanced rapidly, while reinforcements helped stabilize the front at great cost to both sides.
• Zhuo Ning watched the old Immortal Emperor weaken from the Five Decays of a Celestial Person as the princes took over court affairs.
• Zhuo Dao arrived at night and told the old Immortal Emperor that Immortal Emperor Daoyi had ordered him to ascend the throne.
• Mr. Qin appeared, confirmed that the reports about the eldest son were false, and said the eldest son remained trapped among the Barbarian Clan.
• Mr. Qin revealed his true face, and the old Immortal Emperor recognized him as the man he had secretly killed after using him as a stand-in and imperial stud.
• Mr. Qin confirmed that he was Zhuo Dao’s true father.

Zhuo Yongnian revealed that he had concealed his Ninth-Grade Spirit Root, survived by using an incarnation, and secretly positioned himself to seize the Immortal Emperor’s throne. He urged Zhuo Dao, his son, to kill Zhuo Yonghuan, but the old Immortal Emperor declared that he would fight back.

• Zhuo Yongnian explained that he had hidden his Ninth-Grade Spirit Root and left an incarnation in the Heavenly Palace while his true body cultivated elsewhere.
• Zhuo Yongnian recounted how he had supported Zhuo Yonghuan, served as his trusted bed substitute, and faked his death when the old Immortal Emperor discovered his actions.
• Zhuo Yongnian revealed that he was Zhuo Dao’s father and that most of the current imperial family’s princes and princesses were his children.
• Zhuo Yongnian admitted that he had caused Zhuo Yonghuan’s foundation damage by providing him with a spirit medicine he had cultivated himself.
• Zhuo Yongnian ordered Zhuo Dao to seize the throne, and Zhuo Dao approached Zhuo Yonghuan with a dagger.
• Zhuo Yonghuan laughed and challenged Zhuo Dao’s assumption that he would surrender without a fight.