Recaps

Kang Dabao took office as Pingrong County commandant and led a conscripted force against the Five Aspects Sect, surviving heavy losses and the destruction of its stronghold. After being ordered to marry into Sima Fei’s family and completing a final punitive campaign, he returned to Chongming Sect and sensed an apparent assassin nearby.

• Ge Yangfeng attacked the Chongming Sect cultivators, but Tie Xishui killed him while Yue Lan took the Wang Household’s Fifth Elder away.
• After Ye Pinglin’s injuries left his cultivation foundation ruined, Kang Dabao refused to become magistrate but was compelled to accept the county commandant post after Xie Fu’s murder.
• Kang Dabao took office, arranged a shop for the Tie Household in Chongming Market, and spent two months cultivating before officials ordered Pingrong County to provide laborers and conscripts.
• Kang Dabao fought Luo Heng over Sima Fei’s campaign order, formed a fifty-man contingent, trained its fighters, and marched with the army against the Five Aspects Sect.
• When the vanguard collapsed and the Five Aspects Sect struck back, Kang Dabao held his formation together through heavy casualties until Sima Fei’s forces broke the enemy’s defenses and seized its headquarters.
• After the battle, Kang Dabao accepted an arranged marriage to a Fei daughter and received campaign rewards, then paid to release wounded members of his contingent and left most of his remaining fighters behind.
• Kang Dabao joined the Hong County militia in destroying Three Flowers Manor, collected a thousand Spirit Stones from Magistrate Mo, and returned to Pingrong County before handing its affairs to Tie Xishan.
• On his way back to Chongming Sect, Kang Dabao sensed an apparent Two Instruments Sect assassin nearby as the Primordial Gourd released green smoke.

Kang Dabao married Fei Shuhe, strengthened the Chongming Sect, and survived the destruction of Chongming Market before being sent to lead laborers at a Spirit Stone mine. After the mine’s catastrophe, he led a survey team into its tunnels and faced a pack of Purple Fire Jackals.

• The Fei Household’s wedding deception left Kang Dabao without a bride at first, but Kuang Liuting intervened and brought Fei Shuhe to him, and the two married before establishing separate courtyards.
• Kang Dabao received guidance and a wedding gift from Lord Yin Shan, expanded the Chongming Sect’s organization and resources, and prepared for the Immortal Ascension Assembly.
• A Demon Beast horde destroyed Chongming Market, killing many people, while Tie Liuyun’s Xiezhi Iron Guard eventually drove the beasts away.
• Jiang Qing killed a female cultivator linked to the Three Incense Cult, and Kang Dabao learned the attack was part of wider raids before bringing survivors and new elders into the sect.
• Kang Dabao was ordered to replace Sun Bingdou and lead laborers at the Gao Li Mountain mine, where he organized their work and advanced to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.
• Kang Dabao and Huo Chun secretly coordinated the county teams to increase mining output, but Gold-Devouring Rats devastated the mine and the prefectural court took control.
• Gun Shide appointed Kang Dabao to lead a survey team into the damaged tunnels, where a pack of Purple Fire Jackals ambushed them and killed Cultivator Jing.

Kang Dabao survived the Gold-Devouring Rat disaster, strengthened the Chongming Sect’s ties, and took charge of rebuilding Chongming Market as a trade market. The arc ended with him backing the Kuai Household in a blue silver vein dispute with the Huo Household, which escalated into a contest of three fights.

• Kang Dabao and the surviving cultivators fought off the Purple Fire Jackals, but a Gold-Devouring Rat swarm overwhelmed them until Daoist Black Shoes arrived, killed the Second-Tier rat, and defeated Three Incense Cult elder Ying Bi.
• After recovering at the Kuai Household, Kang Dabao returned to the Chongming Sect, where he addressed its finances and disciples, while Tie Liuyun appointed him County Commandant and put him in charge of Pingrong County’s market.
• Kang Dabao organized the harvest and storage of alfalfa, then explained how the prefectural court’s rebuilding of Chongming Market would affect the sect and arranged to recruit merchants and allies.
• On the road, Shao Meng’s bandits attacked the He Household caravan, but they let it pass after learning it was entrusted to Kang Dabao, whose reputation later helped secure the caravan for the Chongming Sect.
• Kang Dabao helped oversee the market’s expansion into the Double Brightness Trade Market, brought Wei Gu into work with the court’s formation masters, and encountered the contemptuous new acting lieutenant Xu Yingshi.
• Widow Ma offered Kang Dabao a Breakthrough Pill for a shopfront, while Huo Ying sought his protection and spent the night with him before he left to complete the county handover.
• Tie Liuyun recruited Kang Dabao to help the Kuai Household contest the Huo Household’s claim to a blue silver vein, and Daoist Black Shoes agreed to join them.
• After Kang Dabao drove Huo Household members from the vein, the Huo Household attacked Kuai Household shops and graves, and Huo Bing and Tie Liuyun agreed to settle the dispute with three fights in half a month.

Kang Dabao helped secure the Spirit Stone mine, defeat the Grass Witch Cult, and build a force for the Double Brightness Trade Market while Chen Ye completed the Change Yin ritual. The arc ended with Daoist Black Shoes failing to kill Chen Ye after Song Xueqiao and Lord Yin Shan intervened, and Song Xueqiao carrying Chen Ye back toward Reed Creek Mountain.

• Tie Xishan and Yuan Jin won the first two matches for the Kuai Household, and Kang Da secured victory in the extra contest against the Huo Household.
• Ye Zhen formed the New Cloud Alliance to share the Spirit Stone mine, while Kang Dabao helped arrange the Chongming Sect’s contribution and learned that Chen Ye was being hunted.
• Chen Ye killed Shen Ang after Shen Ang ambushed him, then Kang Dabao’s group joined the alliance’s campaign against the Grass Witch Cult and helped break its formation.
• The New Cloud Alliance defeated the Grass Witch Cult and divided its stores, while Chen Ye killed Shi Xiao and completed the Change Yin ritual.
• Daoist Black Shoes strengthened the alliance by killing four Auspicious Brocade Gate cultivators, while Kang Dabao recruited cultivators and established the Thief-Catching Office at Double Brightness Trade Market.
• Kang Dabao challenged Zheng Xibei’s claim to lead the Chongming Sect, recruited the Shandu Ridge cultivators, and organized a force under Yuan Jin for the market.
• After the market opened, Kang Dabao delivered Tie Xishui’s letter, received a Three Dew Azure Cloud Pill, and broke through to the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining.
• Daoist Black Shoes found Chen Ye disguised as Immortal Dongguo and attacked him, but Song Xueqiao and Lord Yin Shan intervened, and Song Xueqiao carried Chen Ye toward Reed Creek Mountain after Daoist Black Shoes fled.