Recaps

After defeating the bandits, Kang Dabao questioned two surviving Ghost Horse Owls lackeys and learned where their lair was. The Lu and Xue Household masters proposed joining the Chongming Sect’s expedition, and the Ye Household also asked to be included.

• Lu Zhen counted the Spirit Stones he had taken from the Jia Mountain Bandits’ leader and accepted that his injured arm might take two years to heal.
• Kang Dabao slapped Yuan Jin out of his violent frenzy, then threatened the two captured lackeys until one revealed the Ghost Horse Owls’ lair.
• Pei Yi treated Lu Zhen and the injured Ye Household youths, though he said Lu Zhen’s recovery would take at least two years.
• The Lu Household Master mourned his dead relative and quickly accepted fifteen Spirit Stones from the Xue Household Master.
• The Xue and Lu Household masters offered to join Kang Dabao’s attack on the Ghost Horse Owls’ lair, and a representative of the Ye Household asked to join as well.

Ye Pinglin joined Kang Dabao's expedition to destroy the Ghost Horse Owls, whose remaining bandits were led by the notorious Evil Granny. The assault swept through the stronghold, where the Xue Household head confronted Evil Granny with his white-bone sarira.

• Ye Pinglin asked to join the expedition so he could personally avenge his household, and Kang Dabao agreed to take him along.
• Kang Dabao left Yuan Jin behind to watch over the Chongming Sect's children and traveled to Guo County with the Xue and Lu Households.
• The group learned that Zhao Gu's dao companion, nicknamed Evil Granny, commanded nearly twenty surviving Ghost Horse Owls in Emerald Mountain.
• Kang Dabao's forces stormed the stronghold, and the Lu and Xue Household heads killed many of the bandits' underlings.
• Evil Granny tried to flee, but the Xue Household head intercepted her and used his white-bone sarira to destroy the eight straw figures she summoned.

The allied cultivators defeated Evil Granny and her bandits, winning their first battle without losing anyone. Pei Yi opened a hidden cave full of cultivation resources, leaving the victors ready to divide the spoils.

• Household Head Xue fought Evil Granny, whose short blade damaged his White Bone Sarira and destroyed his Black Blood Flying Dagger.
• Evil Granny tried to flee, but Kang Dabao trapped her with vines and killed her with the Army-Breaking Hammer.
• The bandits fled after Evil Granny fell, but the allied forces caught and killed them all without suffering casualties.
• Household Head Lu rummaged through his cultivators' Storage Bags for valuables while Xue Hu regretted losing his Law Artifact and missing out on the spoils.
• Ye Pinglin survived his reckless charge after Jiang Qing blocked a blow for him.
• Pei Yi used a command talisman to open a secret cave in the cliff, revealing a store of cultivation resources.

Kang Dabao divided the Ghost Horse Owls’ spoils with the Lu and Xue Households, then led the allied forces to destroy the Jia Mountain Bandits and claim their smaller hoard. After giving Ye Pinglin a defensive Law Artifact, Kang Dabao wondered what the Fire Saber Stronghold might contain.

• Kang Dabao claimed the cooking utensils, red spirit grain, and miscellaneous ores as the Chongming Sect’s share of the Ghost Horse Owls’ treasure, while the three parties agreed to copy the Cultivation Methods.
• Kang Dabao arranged for the allied forces to rest overnight before leaving the Ghost Horse Owls’ lair.
• Kang Dabao brought Pei Yi to guard Jiang Qing as Jiang Qing collected Storage Bags from the Jia Mountain Bandits’ corpses.
• The allied forces found and wiped out the Jia Mountain Bandits’ lair after spending several days searching Xuping County with a Rogue Cultivator’s guidance.
• Kang Dabao rejected the Lu household head’s proposal to kill their guide, chose ores and spirit fruits, and gave Ye Pinglin a hexagonal bronze mirror.

Kang Dabao and Pei Yi recruited the Kuai Household to guide the allied forces to Fire Saber Stronghold’s lair, with Kuai Wu negotiating for Dantong Cliff in return. The force captured the stronghold, and Kang Dabao prepared to oversee the division of its spoils.

• Kang Dabao and Pei Yi visited Kuai Wu, who confirmed he knew Fire Saber Stronghold’s lair and asked to join the attack.
• Kang Dabao agreed that the Kuai Household could claim Dantong Cliff after the assault, provided anything they took in battle went into the three families’ common treasury.
• Two days later, Kuai Wu led twenty cultivators from five families to Dantong Cliff, where the stronghold’s guards spotted them and wounded Kuai Wu with talismans.
• Jiang Qing disrupted the mountain-guarding formation by striking its operators, and Xue Hu joined him as the allied forces overwhelmed the bandits.
• The allied forces captured Fire Saber Stronghold, and Kang Dabao gathered the patriarchs outside the storehouse to begin dividing the spoils.

After returning to the Chongming Sect with a rich haul, Kang Dabao directed his brothers to distribute the spoils and strengthen the sect. The chapter ended with the sect’s affairs proceeding in an orderly fashion over the next three months.

• Kang Dabao gave Ye Pinglin a Storage Bag before returning to the Chongming Sect and resting overnight.
• After morning lessons, Pei Yi calculated the expedition’s substantial haul, including Spirit Stones, cultivation supplies, artifacts, pills, and spirit herbs.
• Kang Dabao assigned Yuan Jin to spend Spirit Stones in Xuanwei City, hire reputable practitioners, and return with his family within three months.
• Kang Dabao told Pei Yi to give suitable low-grade items to the children and make higher-grade goods available to the brothers.
• Kang Dabao ordered Jiang Qing to focus on cultivation and training the juniors instead of going out to fight.
• Over the following three months, the Chongming Sect’s affairs proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Kang Dabao arranged for specialists to restore the Chongming Sect’s Spirit Vein, cultivate spiritual fields, and install formations as construction expanded. The sect’s development got underway after the three deals were settled.

• Kang Dabao hired geomancer Sun to survey Little Ring Mountain and negotiated a contract for restoring its Spirit Vein within two years.
• Kang Dabao and Sun agreed on payments and penalties tied to the Spirit Vein’s restored grade, then sealed the contract.
• Pei Yi hired a spiritual farmer to open twenty-one mu of spiritual fields and provide the sect with planting guidance.
• Yuan Jin and Kang Dabao negotiated with a formation master, agreeing to a shorter term at a lower price while Yuan Jin supplied the formation materials.
• Kang Dabao’s relatives began building essential sect facilities, and the three specialist contracts put the Chongming Sect’s construction on track.

He Dezong learned that He Degong had mishandled Jiang Qing’s encounter with Hei Wu and punished him, while lamenting the lost chance to draw Jiang Qing and his companions into the He Household. He ordered gifts prepared and resolved to visit the Chongming Sect to apologize to Jiang Qing, leaving him troubled by the household’s prospects for Foundation Establishment.

• He Dezong heard that Jiang Qing had survived Hei Wu’s ambush and rebuked He Degong for abandoning him and losing a caravan.
• He Dezong suspended He Degong’s stipend for three years, restricted his business travel, and gave him pills to help him reach the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.
• He Dezong lamented that He Degong had ruined his efforts to recruit Jiang Qing, Kang Dabao, and Yuan Jin into the He Household through marriage.
• After the steward defended He Degong, He Dezong ordered two hundred Spirit Stones, refined gold sand, Moon Water Caltrop Gauze, and a Gray Spirit Falcon prepared for a visit to the Chongming Sect.
• He Dezong resolved to apologize to Jiang Qing despite the expense and worried that the He Household’s branches were doing little to help him achieve Foundation Establishment.

He Dezong visited the Chongming Sect, where Kang Dabao welcomed him, returned the caravan goods, and hosted him through several days of banquets. He left on warm terms with the sect, after giving gifts to the juniors and discovering that Kang Dabao had also set out other goods for him to take.

• He Dezong toured the Chongming Sect with Kang Dabao and learned that Jiang Qing had safely stored the caravan goods he had left behind.
• Kang Dabao invited He Dezong to a banquet, and Ye Pinglin arrived with ten heavenly heart fruits to thank Kang Dabao for helping preserve the Ye Household.
• He Dezong praised Kang Dabao's conduct, then joined the sect members for a feast and gave middle-grade Law Artifacts to the juniors, including Changsheng and Ruyi.
• Yuan Jin, Pei Yi, Jiang Qing, and the other Chongming Sect brothers each hosted He Dezong for another day's banquet, drawing out his visit.
• He Dezong checked and collected the caravan goods, noticed additional items Kang Dabao had set out, and departed after the four brothers escorted him five li.

The Xue, Lu, and Ye household heads visited the Chongming Sect to strengthen relations, and Ye Pinglin offered to return a boy with a Triple Spirit Root to the Kang lineage. Kang Dabao welcomed the child as a promising new disciple, then returned to cultivating as the sect’s reputation continued to grow.

• The Xue, Lu, and Ye household heads visited Kang Dabao together, bringing gifts to thank the Chongming Sect for its help.
• Ye Pinglin revealed that a boy with a Triple Spirit Root descended from a Kang ancestor and offered to return the boy and his close relatives to the Kang Household.
• Kang Dabao tested the boy’s bloodline, and Kang Dahou confirmed the child’s ancestry in the household genealogy.
• Kang Dabao renamed the boy Kang Rongquan, welcomed him into the household, and hosted a banquet that lasted until midnight.
• Kang Dabao cultivated with the Azure Wood Treasured Light Guide and resolved to keep strengthening himself.

Kang Dabao arranged for the Lu Household head and three cultivators to begin learning the caravan trade, while the Chongming Sect’s growing reputation brought three rogue cultivators seeking to join. After turning away two unsuitable applicants, Kang Dabao heard the third warn that trouble had come for the sect.

• Kang Dabao accepted He Dezong’s offer to help establish a Chongming Sect caravan, then chose the Lu Household head to lead a team with one cultivator from each of the other three households.
• News that Kang Dabao and the two households had wiped out three bandit groups spread through Pingrong County, and rogue cultivators began arriving to seek entry into the Chongming Sect.
• Kang Dabao received Du, the rogue cultivator who had guided them to the Jia Mountain Bandits, and accepted his old artifact-refining notebook while sending him away to await a decision.
• Kang Dabao rejected a female cultivator who tried to seduce him into accepting her into the sect.
• An elderly cultivator entered the hall and warned Kang Dabao that trouble had already come for the Chongming Sect.

Ji Wuwu revealed that the Ghost Horse Owls had secretly paid much of their profits to the Shi Household and the Grass Witch Cult, putting Kang Dabao’s sect in danger after their extermination. Kang sought help from nearby allies but found little support, so he agreed to pay tribute and forced the Xue Household to join the settlement.

• Ji Wuwu told Kang Dabao that Zhao Gu was Shi Li’s son and that the Ghost Horse Owls had sent profits to the Shi Household and the Grass Witch Cult.
• Kang Dabao consulted Yuan Jin, Pei Yi, and Jiang Qing, then sent them and himself to seek help from powerful neighbors.
• Half a month later, the group returned with no strong allies; Chen Ye had offered to contain the dispute if they paid 120 Spirit Stones each year.
• Kang Dabao agreed to pay 150 Spirit Stones and warned Xue Hu that the Xue Household had to join the settlement or face the other households’ attack.
• Jiang Qing delivered Kang Dabao’s terms to Xue Hu, who agreed and sent a clansman to contact the Shi Household.

A meeting between Kang Dabao, Shi Xiao, and Xue Hu turned into a fight after Shi Xiao unleashed two powerful spirit tigers and Chang Ghosts. Kang Dabao and the Xue Household were struggling against them when another Shi Household cultivator arrived, leaving Kang Dabao fearing he could not escape.

• Shi Xiao berated Kang Dabao, who threatened to fight rather than be intimidated, and Shi Xiao revealed two first-tier superior-grade striped tigers.
• As Xue Hu tried to mediate, Shi Xiao sent the tigers at Kang Dabao and summoned Chang Ghosts whose mournful song overwhelmed people across the Xue Household.
• The Chang Ghosts fed Xue Household corpses to the tigers, while Xue Hu struck one beast and then joined Kang Dabao and two other Xue Household cultivators in battle against Shi Xiao.
• Kang Dabao blasted through part of Shi Xiao’s ghost cocoon, but the ghosts’ song disrupted him as the armored tigers attacked and shattered his Golden Armor Round Shield.
• A Shi Household cultivator arrived on a spirit eagle and called Shi Xiao “Fourth Uncle,” while Kang Dabao feared he would be unable to escape.

The one-eyed shopkeeper met with Lady Chong to learn the Grass Witch Cult's stance on the Shi Household's possible conflict with the Chongming Sect, while she tried to recruit him and probe his knowledge of Kang Dabao. After receiving a secret message, he trapped Lady Chong and announced that she would have to pay for its news.

• Lady Chong told the one-eyed shopkeeper that the Grass Witch Cult would not interfere if the Shi Household sought revenge on the Chongming Sect, but it still expected its annual Spirit Stone payments.
• Lady Chong urged the one-eyed shopkeeper to return to the Grass Witch Cult and offered him a chief attendant position, but he refused to answer.
• Lady Chong speculated that the one-eyed shopkeeper knew something about Kang Dabao and Jiang Qing's cultivation method, but he tried to send her away.
• A messenger hawk brought the one-eyed shopkeeper a secret message, and he closed the shop's array after reading it.
• The one-eyed shopkeeper told Lady Chong she could not take her Spirit Stones and said she would have to pay to hear the news.

Kang Dabao fought Shi Xiao and the Shi Household cultivators, but Shi Xiao withdrew after his nephew urgently warned him of something. Badly injured, Kang Dabao joined Jiang Qing and ordered him to summon the sect so they could pursue Shi Xiao and kill him before he left Cold Crow Mountain.

• Kang Dabao wounded the Shi Household cultivator and drove him to call for Shi Xiao's help.
• Shi Xiao struck Kang Dabao with his snake staff, but Kang Dabao's Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes damaged the artifact.
• The Shi Household cultivator urgently told Shi Xiao something, prompting Shi Xiao to leave with him on the great tigers and abandon the injured Xue Household cultivators.
• Kang Dabao ignored his injuries and hurried away, while Xue Hu wondered where Shi Xiao had gone and feared the Shi Household would return.
• Jiang Qing arrived, and Kang Dabao ordered him to summon Second Brother and Junior Brother Pei so they could pursue and kill Shi Xiao.

Shi Xiao and Shi Feng raced through the forest toward their household, but Pei Yi and Yuan Jin ambushed them while Jiang Qing fought Shi Xiao. Shi Xiao completed a spell that summoned another witch beast, leaving Jiang Qing facing the creature.

• Shi Feng asked Shi Xiao to rest, but Shi Xiao scolded him and ordered him to keep going.
• Pei Yi attacked from hiding, pierced Shi Feng with the Bright Light Spike, and escaped Shi Xiao’s poison arrows using the Wood Release Technique.
• Yuan Jin joined Pei Yi against the two great tigers while Jiang Qing engaged Shi Xiao with his flying sword.
• Shi Xiao began drawing a rune on yellow paper as Jiang Qing intensified his attacks, damaging Shi Xiao’s snake staff but failing to stop the spell.
• Shi Xiao completed the rune and summoned a witch beast, which repelled Jiang Qing’s Seven Luminaries Heart-Slaying Sword with bone spikes.

Shi Li slaughtered much of his own clan to refine a Blood Foundation Pill, hoping to reach Foundation Establishment, but the pill fell short and his chances were poor. After Chen Ye arrived to arrest him, Shi Li asked whether he had seen his pill-condensing technique.

• Shi Li stood amid the ruins of Jingshen City, mourning his murdered relatives as he continued stirring their remains in a cauldron.
• Chen Ye arrived on orders from the prefect and urged Shi Li to surrender and seek forgiveness.
• Shi Li explained that he had killed his direct descendants and collateral relatives to gather enough ingredients for the Blood Foundation Pill, but the mixture lacked purity.
• Shi Li completed a dark pill, while Chen Ye explained that its recipe promised a strong chance of Foundation Establishment if properly refined.
• Shi Li admitted that his age and failing Qi and blood would have left him with only a five percent chance of success, then asked Chen Ye whether he had watched his technique.

Chen Ye fought his senior brother Shi Li, who had attempted to refine a Blood Foundation Pill and killed his descendants in fear of death. Shi Li chose to die, and Chen Ye took the failed pill, his resolve renewed.

• Shi Li mocked Chen Ye for wanting to learn about the Blood Foundation Pill, and the two exchanged techniques in a fierce duel.
• Chen Ye's White Bone Demon God broke both of Shi Li's hands, but Shi Li praised Chen Ye and stopped fighting.
• Shi Li confessed that he no longer wanted to live and urged Chen Ye to abandon his pursuit of Foundation Establishment.
• Shi Li severed his own heart meridian and died while Chen Ye watched beside him.
• At sunrise, Chen Ye took the ink-black pill from Shi Li's hand and examined it alongside a person he had fetched from a distant corner.

After the prefectural court confirmed the Shi Household’s destruction and issued a warrant for Shi Xiao, Kang Dabao settled back into leading the Chongming Sect. As his disciples developed their skills and the sect prospered, he imagined becoming its founding restorer.

• Kang Dabao learned from the county notice that Shi Li had been killed, the Shi Household had been wiped out, and Shi Xiao was wanted dead or alive.
• Kang Dabao recruited Ji Wuwu to relay confidential reports and took in the Rogue Cultivator surnamed Du to help with caravan work.
• Kang Dabao asked Yuan Jin to forge a new shield after learning the Golden Armor Round Shield could not be repaired.
• Pei Yi resumed studying pill refining, while Jiang Qing recovered from his injuries and prepared to pursue the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.
• Kang Dabao surveyed the thriving Chongming Sect and planned its future spirit fields, beast enclosure, market, and specialist trades.

Pei Yi treated Kang Dabao’s badly injured arms while Yuan Jin and Jiang Qing went to buy an expensive tiger-bone salve and investigate Lady Guo near Xuanwei City. The chapter ended with Pei Yi entrusting Martial Uncle Li’s Foundation Establishment insights to Kang Dabao, adding them to Chongming’s inheritance.

• Pei Yi said Kang Dabao’s arms had improved little despite months of treatment, and Yuan Jin proposed buying costly tiger-bone salve.
• Jiang Qing said Ji Wuwu had located Lady Guo near Xuanwei City, then took Yuan Jin with him to find her and buy the medicine.
• Pei Yi reported that Rongquan was progressing well, Anle showed promise with spirit beasts, and Yundao and Mo'er struggled with cultivation.
• Kang Dabao asked about Pei Que, and Pei Yi explained why he had chosen the Metal and Fire Formula for his son.
• Pei Yi gave Kang Dabao Martial Uncle Li’s Foundation Establishment insights, and Kang Dabao accepted them for the Chongming Sect.

Two years later, the Chongming Sect’s young disciples pursued cultivation and their own responsibilities as Kang Rongquan excelled at farming and Duan Anle managed the beast garden. Jin Shilun received Spirit Awakening Powder and encouragement to try Drawing Spirit into the Body again, leaving him eager for his next attempt.

• Kang Rongquan used metal Qi to kill pests in the spirit fields, then told Jin Shilun that his Red Spirit Grain crop was likely to lose money.
• Duan Anle delivered Qi Condensation Pills and Spirit Awakening Powder to the disciples and told Jin Shilun that Pei Que would guard his next attempt to draw spirit into his body.
• Jiang Qing struck Jin Shilun with a ruler for losing focus during evening lessons and made the disciples recite their text.
• Han Yundao hosted a Dao gathering where he and several young disciples shared their cultivation experiences, and the group talked until midnight.
• Jin Shilun returned to his room excitedly staring at the Spirit Awakening Powder.

Pei Yi refined Grain Avoidance Pills as the Chongming Sect prepared to open Chongming Market, with Kang Dabao arranging shops, publicity, and goods for sale. After settling the market’s plans, Kang Dabao turned his attention to cultivation and intended to emerge from seclusion after reaching the sixth layer of Qi Refining.

• Pei Yi refined fourteen Grain Avoidance Pills from three portions of ingredients and judged his yield modest but defect-free.
• Kang Dabao persuaded the Ye, Lu, and Xue Households to support Chongming Market and publicized its opening with help from He Dezong and the He Household.
• Kang Dabao assigned shops to the Chongming Sect, the He Household, and the Fellow Cultivators Association, but the Ming Household rebuffed him and he left one shop vacant.
• Kang Dabao ignored Xue Hu’s request for a shop and reviewed the goods the Xue, Lu, and Ye Households could sell at the market.
• Kang Dabao arranged Chongming Pavilion to sell Pei Yi’s pills and Yuan Jin’s Law Artifacts on consignment, then finished planning the market and prepared to cultivate toward the sixth layer of Qi Refining.

After breaking through to the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, Kang Dabao tended his spirit beast Little Qi and welcomed Jin Shilun’s success in Drawing Spirit into the Body. He formally accepted Jin Shilun as his disciple, gave him initial guidance, and sent him to study with Pei Yi.

• Kang Dabao broke through to the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining and began refining the Garrison Earth Azure Origin Shield.
• Kang Dabao played with Little Qi, the spirit beast Lord Yin Shan had sent, and named it after learning its kind could grow into a second-tier spirit beast.
• Kang Dabao emerged from his cloud chamber and found Jin Shilun waiting after successfully Drawing Spirit into the Body.
• Jin Shilun bowed to Kang Dabao and addressed him as Master for the first time.
• Kang Dabao instructed Jin Shilun, gave him several volumes to memorize, and sent him to find Pei Yi.

Kang Dabao traveled to Han City to seek a trade permit for Chongming Market from the Yue Household, whose authority over southern Cloud Horn Prefecture’s markets came from its alliance with the Two Instruments Sect. After spending days cultivating connections, he waited in a long line to meet the permit master, but the doorkeeper began turning applicants away before his turn arrived.

• The chapter explained how the Immortal Dynasty’s influence in Cloud Horn Prefecture had waned while the Two Instruments Sect regained control, leaving counties such as Pingrong in a power vacuum.
• The Han City Yue Household gained authority to administer trade permits and taxes for markets across southern Cloud Horn Prefecture, and its backing helped protect registered markets from bandits.
• Kang Dabao rode to Han City and used the He Household’s connections to meet a third-rank Yue Household steward.
• Kang Dabao spent dozens of Spirit Stones and five days wining and dining the steward to secure a brief meeting with the permit master.
• Kang Dabao reached the master’s gate early but waited in line until dusk, when the doorkeeper sent applicants away and slapped a man who protested.

Kang Dabao secured a ten-year trading permit for Chongming Market and opened it with free first-year stalls for Rogue Cultivators, drawing steady business. After two profitable months, Ye Pinglin rushed in to warn Sect Master Kang that something terrible had happened.

• Kang Dabao bribed the Yue Household attendant, won the master’s approval, and received a trading permit extended to ten years.
• Kang Dabao returned to Chongming Market and showed the permit to the other households, while Xue Hu worried the Chongming Sect might dominate the region.
• Kang Dabao opened Chongming Market and allowed Rogue Cultivators to set up stalls free for the first year, bringing in hundreds of cultivators.
• Kang Dabao kept watch as the market operated for two months, with lodging and spirit-food sales doing better than the first-floor shops.
• Sect Master Kang calculated that the market would repay its investment in three years before Ye Pinglin rushed in with news of trouble.