Recaps

Yi Xuan had No. 01 design a metal 3D printer, but discovered that its heating system could only process Mysterious Iron and weaker materials. He shelved the design and decided to ask the grand elder for advice.

• Yi Xuan gave No. 01 3D-printing knowledge, and it absorbed the information in fifteen minutes before designing a printer to his specifications.
• No. 01 independently cross-checked the design against Yi Xuan’s database, prompting Yi Xuan to question its decision and inspect its highest-priority command.
• No. 01 explained that the Raging Fire Formation could not melt materials with higher melting points than Mysterious Iron.
• Yi Xuan shelved the printer design and went to bed, planning to ask the grand elder for advice the next day.

Yi Xuan visited Fatty Lin after being invited and learned that the man had a young son he had only recently discovered. When Fatty Lin raised the subject of Yi Xuan’s grenades, Yi Xuan warned him away and revealed he was partnering with Li Jingming.

• Yi Xuan found Liang Shi assembling grenades and praised him before following Lin Er to Fatty Lin’s residence.
• Yi Xuan met Fatty Lin’s young son and gave him an Iron Man figurine.
• Fatty Lin explained that the boy was his son from a past encounter and that the child had recently lost his mother.
• Fatty Lin asked Yi Xuan about the grenades, and Yi Xuan warned him not to get involved in the business.
• Yi Xuan told Fatty Lin that Li Jingming was his grenade-business partner and asked who was in charge of the Azure Cloud Sect.

Yi Xuan realized Spirit Fire could provide the heat needed for his 3D printer and learned that an auction in the capital would offer one in two months. He planned to travel there with Fatty Lin after spending the next month preparing.

• Yi Xuan told Fatty Lin that Li Jingming was the powerful heir behind the grenade business, and Fatty Lin declined to join the business but asked to meet Li Jingming.
• At dinner, Yi Xuan explained that the Raging Fire Formation could not provide enough heat for a treasure he was making.
• Fatty Lin suggested Spirit Fire, prompting Yi Xuan to recall its high temperature and uses in refining pills and artifacts.
• Fatty Lin revealed that a capital auction would offer an ordinary Spirit Fire as a final lot in two months.
• Yi Xuan told Fatty Lin not to disturb him for a month and said he would travel to the capital with him afterward.

Yi Xuan spent a month in seclusion modifying firearms, discovering that Spirit Stone bullets could threaten Foundation Establishment cultivators. He suspended the grenade business and went to meet Fatty Lin before their planned trip to the capital.

• Yi Xuan resumed his firearms research to prepare for leaving Azure Cloud Sect territory with Fatty Lin.
• Yi Xuan replaced a bullet’s gunpowder with a Spirit Stone fragment and inscribed an array, but the pistol exploded when he fired it.
• Yi Xuan rebuilt the pistol with mysterious iron and fired a Spirit Stone bullet, which punched through a wooden rack and nearly a meter into the wall.
• Yi Xuan inscribed arrays on the pistol to reduce its recoil and continued developing firearms in seclusion for a month.
• Yi Xuan told Liang Shi to suspend grenade production and notify Young Master Li’s household that he would be away for three months, then left to find Fatty Lin.

Yi Xuan traveled with Fatty Lin in a lavish carriage that attracted a bandit attack, only for the group to discover that the bandits had a powerful Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator. As Fatty Lin feared for their lives and considered paying a ransom, Yi Xuan went out to bargain with the bandits.

• Yi Xuan arrived at Fatty Lin's residence and was stunned by the luxurious carriage Fatty Lin had prepared for their journey.
• Yi Xuan enjoyed Fatty Lin's wine and roast lamb as the caravan traveled, then heard that riders were pursuing them and might be bandits.
• Fatty Lin ordered Attendant Shen to capture the bandits, and the martial artists began fighting outside the carriage.
• Attendant Shen returned covered in blood and warned Fatty Lin that the bandits included a Foundation Establishment Late Stage immortal master.
• Fatty Lin decided to ask the bandits to name a price, while Yi Xuan went outside to see if he could bargain for a cheaper ransom.

Yi Xuan and Fatty Lin faced a bandit leader who demanded Fatty Lin's air conditioner and attacked after Fatty Lin refused to hand it over. Yi Xuan's pistol and rifle could not penetrate the cultivator's True Essence shield, so he brought out a Gatling gun and aimed it at the man.

• Attendant Shen offered the bandits money or goods, and Fatty Lin used Yi Xuan's megaphone to communicate with their leader.
• The bandit leader demanded an air conditioner, but Fatty Lin offered only the one in his carriage and promised to send more later.
• The bandit leader broke Fatty Lin's martial artists' formation with a sword strike and charged at Fatty Lin.
• Yi Xuan stopped the charge with a pistol shot, then fired a rifle at the bandit leader, but neither weapon could penetrate his shield.
• The bandit leader threatened Fatty Lin and moved rapidly around the group, so Yi Xuan aimed a Gatling gun at him and asked whether he had ever seen one spit blue fire.

Yi Xuan used his cultivation-world Gatling gun to kill a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator and wipe out the bandits threatening Fatty Lin’s group. After the group reached the capital, Yi Xuan learned that immortal masters and a protective formation had made the city’s immense scale possible.

• Yi Xuan agreed to give the air conditioner to the opposing cultivator, then used his Gatling gun to kill him when it locked onto its target.
• Attendant Shen prepared to lead the group against the remaining bandits, but Yi Xuan stopped him and swept them down with the Gatling gun.
• Yi Xuan inspected the gun’s overheated Mysterious Iron barrels and realized he needed to find stronger materials.
• The group found little of value among the bandits’ belongings and continued their journey without further trouble.
• Less than ten days later, Yi Xuan and Fatty Lin arrived at the capital, where Fatty Lin explained that immortal masters and a protective formation had helped build the city.

Yi Xuan toured the capital with Fatty Lin and visited the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, where he learned about a Golden Flame Spirit Fire listed for auction. He left without making a bid, and Fatty Lin warned Shopkeeper Tong not to manipulate the auction price because Yi Xuan intended to obtain the flame.

• Fatty Lin took Yi Xuan to the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, the largest auction house in the Western Jiang Kingdom.
• Fatty Lin introduced Yi Xuan to Shopkeeper Tong, and Yi Xuan identified himself as a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect.
• Yi Xuan examined the auction list and asked Shopkeeper Tong about the Golden Flame Spirit Fire.
• Yi Xuan left the pavilion, and Fatty Lin told Shopkeeper Tong that Yi Xuan had come to bid on the flame and warned him not to drive up its price.

Yi Xuan and Fatty Lin finished their scheme to secure a spiritual fire cheaply and went to explore the capital’s porcelain shops. There, Yi Xuan reunited with Shi Zhenghao and learned the real reason behind his senior brother’s supposed defection, while Shi Zhenghao remained free of the sect.

• Yi Xuan and Fatty Lin revealed that they had staged a good-cop, bad-cop act to keep Shopkeeper Tong from raising the spiritual fire’s auction price.
• Fatty Lin took Yi Xuan to a street of porcelain shops, where they discussed the capital’s Ru ware.
• Yi Xuan recognized Shi Zhenghao, who was boasting to a woman that he would become the Azure Cloud Sect’s master, and exposed his past; the woman slapped him and left.
• Yi Xuan told Shi Zhenghao that their master had gone into seclusion and shared what their master had said before leaving.
• Shi Zhenghao explained that he had deliberately used the law enforcement elder’s trap as an excuse to escape becoming sect master and leave the Azure Cloud Sect.

Yi Xuan reunited with his expelled senior brother Shi Zhenghao, who led Fatty Lin to a pleasure boat after claiming it was a place to admire Ru ware. Fatty Lin discovered it was a brothel, learned Shi Zhenghao’s identity, and worried about the consequences before Yi Xuan reassured him.

• Fatty Lin met Shi Zhenghao and mistook him for a secluded, powerful Azure Cloud Sect disciple after Yi Xuan praised his strength.
• Shi Zhenghao said he would rather visit a brothel than look at Ru ware, and Fatty Lin followed him to a pleasure boat, believing it displayed porcelain.
• Fatty Lin realized the boat was a brothel after seeing Shi Zhenghao with drinking girls, and Shi Zhenghao confirmed he had brought him there for a brothel visit.
• Yi Xuan told Fatty Lin that Shi Zhenghao had been expelled from the Azure Cloud Sect more than ten years earlier, and Fatty Lin recognized his notorious name.
• Shi Zhenghao left Fatty Lin with the bill, while Yi Xuan reassured him the sect would not punish him for coming along.
• Fatty Lin relaxed and drank wine from another table before Yi Xuan told him their own drinks had not arrived.

Yi Xuan watched Grandmaster Yun dance on the pleasure boat and learned that her Eighth-Grade Spirit Root had attracted many sects, but she had challenged their authority with questions about whether cultivators were human or immortal. Her questions left Yi Xuan reflecting on what immortals really were.

• Fatty Lin told Yi Xuan that he had sworn off women out of consideration for the boy and the boy’s mother, but Grandmaster Yun’s appearance soon captivated him.
• Grandmaster Yun performed a dance and revealed her face, leaving the boat’s guests enthralled while Yi Xuan watched without reacting.
• Two guests fought over Grandmaster Yun, and the boat’s crew threw them overboard.
• A scholarly young man told Yi Xuan that Grandmaster Yun, whose name was Yun Shulan, had an Eighth-Grade Spirit Root and had rejected sects that came to recruit her.
• The young man recounted Yun Shulan’s questions about whether cultivators were human or immortal and why they stood above mortals or interfered in mortal affairs, prompting Yi Xuan to reflect.

Yi Xuan was invited to Grandmaster Yun’s private chamber for a solo dance after the pleasure boat’s manager clarified that her invitation was not being auctioned for Spirit Stones. When Yun Shulan misunderstood his casual response as an insult to ordinary people, Yi Xuan tried to explain that he was different from other cultivators and revealed that he was a Rootless Person.

• A maid announced that Grandmaster Yun wished to invite a guest to watch her perform a solo dance, and the guests began bidding Spirit Stones.
• The boat’s manager explained that Grandmaster Yun had never exchanged a dance for Spirit Stones and let the maid finish her message.
• The maid invited Yi Xuan into Grandmaster Yun’s private chamber, and Fatty Lin pushed him forward as the guests protested.
• Yun Shulan asked Yi Xuan what piece he wanted, and he named “Gokuraku Jodo” before telling her to perform whatever she liked.
• Yun Shulan accused cultivators of seeing ordinary people as ants, and Yi Xuan told her he was a Rootless Person.

Yi Xuan explained to Yun Shulan what it meant to be a Rootless Person and learned that her objection was to cultivators who looked down on ordinary people. He promised he might one day help ordinary people gain the power to demand respect, and told her to find him if she heard rumors about him in the capital.

• Yun Shulan mistook Yi Xuan's Rootless constitution for castration, and he clarified that it meant he had no Spirit Root.
• Yi Xuan told Yun Shulan about Rootless Persons and said he had accepted his condition a month after learning of it.
• Yun Shulan revealed that she was a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator and explained that she resented cultivators who treated ordinary people as inferior.
• Yi Xuan told Yun Shulan that ordinary people would earn cultivators' respect if they gained the ability to threaten them.
• Yi Xuan left, telling Yun Shulan to seek him out if she heard rumors about him in the capital and reminding her that she owed him a solo dance.

After returning to his courtyard with Golden Flame refined, Yi Xuan found that No. 01 had finished processing its information and started a full self-check. He tested Liang Shi’s Spirit Root and offered to take him as a disciple, but clarified that Liang Shi would not join the sect.

• Yi Xuan returned to his courtyard with Golden Flame and found that Liang Shi had kept the place tidy during his absence.
• Yi Xuan learned that No. 01 had finished entering the information and ordered it to begin an eight-hour comprehensive self-check.
• Yi Xuan took Liang Shi to the Spirit Root testing site, where the elder identified Liang Shi’s Spirit Root as Fourth-Grade.
• Yi Xuan told Liang Shi he wanted to take him as his disciple, and Liang Shi accepted by kneeling and kowtowing.
• Yi Xuan told Liang Shi that, despite becoming his disciple, he would not be a disciple of the sect, and Liang Shi agreed.

Yi Xuan had Liang Shi assemble a 3D printer after training him with No. 01, while Yi Xuan prepared materials for a robot. Liang Shi completed the printer in four hours, and Yi Xuan began tuning it.

• Yi Xuan assigned No. 01 to teach Liang Shi modern science and gave him a cultivation method to study.
• Yi Xuan made a new artifact-refining cauldron and spent more than ten days processing the 3D printer's components.
• Yi Xuan handed Liang Shi the blueprints and told him to assemble the printer under No. 01's supervision.
• Yi Xuan bought materials for a robot from Fatty Lin's shop while Liang Shi assembled the printer.
• No. 01 reported that Liang Shi had finished the printer in four hours, and Yi Xuan praised him before tuning the machine.

Yi Xuan successfully tested a 3D printer powered by Golden Flame and used it to produce parts for robots. He and Liang Shi assembled five Nüwa robots, which No. 01 programmed to work in Yi Xuan's secret chamber.

• Yi Xuan paired the 3D printer with No. 01, loaded its control system, and used Golden Flame as its heat source.
• No. 01 reported that the first printed part was high quality, so Yi Xuan ordered it to print all the robot components.
• After the printer produced the parts overnight, Yi Xuan and Liang Shi assembled the first tracked robot.
• Yi Xuan made four more robots and named the five Nüwa No. 1 through No. 5.
• No. 01 connected and programmed the robots, and they began working around the secret chamber.

Yi Xuan used No. 01 to compress and store a model of the human brain, hoping to simulate cultivation of the Spirit Refining Instruction without harming his own mind. The brain model successfully began simulating an immortal cultivator’s sea of consciousness.

• Yi Xuan grew bored at his stall and struggled to make progress cultivating with the Spirit Refining Instruction because each attempt ended in a loud boom and a headache.
• Yi Xuan rushed to the secret chamber and asked No. 01 whether it could construct a model of the human brain, but its available storage was insufficient.
• No. 01 suggested compressing the brain model, and Yi Xuan installed six additional Jade Slip hard drives and wrote a real-time compression program.
• Yi Xuan transmitted the brain data from the Book of Technology to No. 01, which compressed and stored the complete model over a day and night.
• Yi Xuan backed up No. 01’s main system, started the brain model, and ordered it to simulate an immortal cultivator’s sea of consciousness; the screen turned hazy white.

Yi Xuan used No. 01 to simulate a cultivator’s sea of consciousness and discovered that the Spirit Refining Decision’s strike exceeded his current limit by 120,000 times. After a month of simulations, No. 01 produced a cultivation plan tailored to his needs, while Liang Shi slowly reached the Qi Refining First Layer.

• Yi Xuan had No. 01 simulate a sea of consciousness and successfully construct a small cube from Divine Sense.
• Yi Xuan ordered No. 01 to simulate the Spirit Refining Decision, and the results showed its strike exceeded his sea of consciousness’s strength by 120,000 times.
• Yi Xuan assigned No. 01 to run repeated simulations and paused Liang Shi’s studies so he could focus on cultivation.
• A month later, Liang Shi reached the Qi Refining First Layer, convincing Yi Xuan to optimize a cultivation method suited to him.
• After a month of simulation and optimization, No. 01 completed a Spirit Refining Decision cultivation plan, and Yi Xuan prepared to try it.

Yi Xuan used No. 01’s optimized Spirit Refining Instruction to strengthen his Divine Sense while keeping grenade production running. His senior brother Shi Zhenghao arrived badly injured and collapsed, leaving Yi Xuan to treat him and keep his presence secret.

• No. 01 devised a grinding method that Yi Xuan could withstand, and Yi Xuan completed his first fifteen-minute cultivation session before losing consciousness.
• Yi Xuan declined further optimization so No. 01 could resume controlling the secret chamber and grenade production, while Liang Shi continued studying technology with it.
• Over the next half month, Yi Xuan increased his cultivation sessions from fifteen minutes to an hour and recovered quickly between them.
• Yi Xuan smelled blood, recognized Shi Zhenghao in a black cloak, and carried his senior brother to the bedroom after he collapsed.
• Liang Shi found Yi Xuan tending to Shi Zhenghao, learned he was his senior martial uncle, and was told to keep his presence secret and fetch a bottle of Origin Returning Pills from Fatty Lin.

Yi Xuan’s senior brother Shi Zhenghao recovered in his courtyard after escaping a Golden Core Evil Cultivator who tracked him through a mark on a soul he had taken. Shi Zhenghao remained in hiding at Yi Xuan’s home, planning to wait until he could reach the Golden Core Realm before confronting his pursuer.

• Yi Xuan woke when Shi Zhenghao groaned and helped him recover, while the two joked about Elder Wang and his wife.
• Shi Zhenghao explained that an Evil Cultivator’s tracking mark led his Golden Core master to find him, and that a Greater Teleportation Talisman brought him to Yi Xuan’s courtyard after he was beaten.
• Liang Shi arrived with an Origin Returning Pill, and Shi Zhenghao praised him after Liang Shi defended Yi Xuan from criticism.
• Yi Xuan told Liang Shi to pause his lessons while Shi Zhenghao recovered, and Shi Zhenghao stayed in the courtyard for half a month.
• Shi Zhenghao said he would remain hidden until he reached the Golden Core Realm, and Yi Xuan teased him for being afraid to leave.

Yi Xuan planned to build an anti-materiel weapon to seriously injure the Golden Core Evil Dao cultivator pursuing Shi Zhenghao. He sent Shi Zhenghao to stay with Liang Shi and began printing a cultivation-world version of a Barrett rifle.

• Shi Zhenghao claimed he could kill the Evil Dao cultivator if the man were seriously injured, and Yi Xuan said he would try to create a way to do so.
• Yi Xuan called Liang Shi over and arranged for Shi Zhenghao to stay at Liang Shi's home while he went into seclusion.
• Yi Xuan entered his secret room and ordered No. 01 to generate a model of an anti-materiel sniper rifle, which turned out to be a Barrett.
• Yi Xuan chose red copper instead of mysterious iron for the weapon, then ordered No. 01 to send the model to the 3D printer.

Yi Xuan finished a spiritual-array-enhanced Barrett and showed Shi Zhenghao how it could threaten a Golden Core True Person. The chapter ended with Shi Zhenghao believing Yi Xuan’s test shot had killed the law enforcement elder.

• Yi Xuan and two Nüwa-type robots assembled the Barrett, then Yi Xuan spent two days inscribing spiritual arrays to strengthen it and reduce its recoil.
• Yi Xuan converted 12.7-millimeter rounds into Spirit Stone bullets and went to bring Shi Zhenghao and Liang Shi to his courtyard.
• Shi Zhenghao doubted the Barrett could threaten a Golden Core True Person until Yi Xuan showed him the law enforcement elder through its sight from thirty thousand meters away.
• Yi Xuan fired the Barrett at a distant mountain peak while Shi Zhenghao watched the spot with his Divine Sense.
• Shi Zhenghao turned to Yi Xuan and declared that the law enforcement elder was surely dead.

Yi Xuan and Shi Zhenghao tested the Barrett and discovered that its bullet could penetrate deep into a mountain before exploding inside it. Confident in the weapon, Shi Zhenghao set out to take revenge on the Golden Core cultivator who had injured him, leaving Yi Xuan worried about his safety.

• Shi Zhenghao flew Yi Xuan to the mountainside where the Barrett bullet had struck, carrying him by the collar at tremendous speed.
• Yi Xuan used his Divine Sense to inspect the bullet's path and the large cavity its explosion had created inside the mountain.
• Shi Zhenghao examined the Barrett and decided to attack the Evil Cultivator who had seriously injured him without waiting to reach the Golden Core Realm.
• Yi Xuan explained how to use the Barrett, gave Shi Zhenghao the ten remaining Spirit Stone bullets, and warned him to retreat if he missed.
• Shi Zhenghao flew toward the edge of Azure Cloud Sect territory, while Yi Xuan worried that his senior brother might be in danger.

Yi Xuan learned that Shi Zhenghao had used the Barrett to kill an Evil Cultivator from fifty li away. Shi Zhenghao gave Yi Xuan the Evil Cultivator’s Storage Bag, which contained five blank souls and a soul-refining manual Yi Xuan was not allowed to keep.

• Yi Xuan checked that Shi Zhenghao was unharmed and asked whether his mission had succeeded.
• Shi Zhenghao explained that he had shot the Evil Cultivator from fifty li away, killing him before he could react.
• Yi Xuan gave Shi Zhenghao the Barrett and a box of fifty bullets.
• Shi Zhenghao gave Yi Xuan the Spirit Stones and five blank souls from the Evil Cultivator’s Storage Bag, while keeping the other items for himself.
• Yi Xuan examined the soul-refining manual but could not persuade Shi Zhenghao to let him keep it, so he stored the five blank souls for later.

Over half a year, Yi Xuan’s grenade business expanded while his cultivation reached the Qi Refining Realm Ninety-Ninth Layer, leaving him wary of advancing further. The chapter ended with Liang Shi entering the vast underground base Yi Xuan had built beneath his secret chamber.

• Yi Xuan reflected that he had not seen Shi Zhenghao since his senior brother left, while the Azure Cloud Sect continued running smoothly under the law enforcement elder and Cui Yan.
• Yi Xuan raised grenade production to a thousand a day, bringing Li Jingming’s earnings to ten thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones a day while keeping his own profits secret.
• Liang Shi reached only the Qi Refining Realm Second Layer, while Yi Xuan advanced to the Ninety-Ninth Layer and discovered that his True Qi reserves had grown enormously and his lifespan had increased.
• Liang Shi entered Yi Xuan’s secret chamber, where automated production lines had replaced much of the work previously done by robots.
• Liang Shi passed security checks and rode an elevator down to a huge base five hundred meters beneath the secret chamber, where machines and robots filled the main hall.