Recaps

Du Niansheng expanded the wager between the Withering and Flourishing Sect and the Shen Clan to include something from the losers’ bodies, and the hundred-person battle began. Gu Chen defeated Shen Yuan quickly, while the Shen Clan continued sending out weaker fighters to probe and wear him down.

• Du Niansheng proposed that the winning side could choose something from the losing side’s bodies, and Shen Tianxun accepted the expanded wager.
• Liu Duanyuan started the battle, and Shen Tianxun activated the arena’s isolation formation with a token.
• Shen Yuan of the Shen Clan entered the arena, followed by Gu Chen of the Withering and Flourishing Sect, whose Saint King Realm strength surprised Zhong Ming and Xiao Ye.
• Shen Yuan attacked without holding back under Shen Tianxun’s orders to probe and wear down the opponent, but Gu Chen defeated him within seven breaths.
• A second Shen Clan fighter entered, and spectators noted that he was also only in the Saint Realm.

Gu Chen continued winning against the Shen Clan’s younger members, and Liu Duanyuan publicly praised his hidden abilities and refined combat skills. Shen Tianxun still expected Gu Chen to reach the final and become a stepping stone for Shen Wentian.

• Gu Chen defeated challenger after challenger, while spectators grew impatient at the Shen Clan’s repeated use of Saint Realm fighters.
• Shen Tianxun told the assembled factions that Gu Chen deserved a chance to show his ability, while privately planning to help him reach the final.
• Shen Tianxun asked Liu Duanyuan to assess Gu Chen, and Liu said Gu Chen had concealed at least seventy percent of his abilities and had been personally refined by a martial Dao senior.
• The crowd reacted with astonishment to Liu Duanyuan’s praise and began to wonder whether the Withering and Flourishing Sect could win the wager match.
• Mu Fan teased Qin Li about being Gu Chen’s sparring partner, and Qin Li told him to go play somewhere else.

Gu Chen continued winning the Shen Clan’s wager matches, reaching the ninetieth fight as his opponents grew stronger and the battles helped him improve. As Shen Wentian’s turn approached, Liu Duanyuan recognized Lu Changzhi and pulled him into a separate space to speak with him.

• Gu Chen defeated the Shen Clan’s Saint King Realm opponents without taking a break, and the crowd marveled at his endurance.
• The fights advanced to the seventieth round, with Gu Chen still undefeated as Shen Tianxun considered him a worthy stepping stone for Shen Wentian.
• Gu Chen enjoyed the increasingly challenging battles, adapted to his opponents’ varied techniques, and felt his newly obtained bloodline growing more compatible with his body.
• Gu Chen won the ninetieth fight, while Du Niansheng and Xiao Qian praised his strength and noted the coming gap between him and Shen Wentian.
• Liu Duanyuan recognized Lu Changzhi, transported him to a separate space, and told him that even he could not see through him.

Liu Duanyuan offered Lu Changzhi Liu Clan resources and protection in exchange for impersonating the clan’s legendary member with the Aptitude of a Great Emperor. Lu Changzhi accepted, then chose a difficult Liu Clan technique as a way to prove himself.

• Liu Duanyuan invited Lu Changzhi to join the Liu Clan’s ranks and explained that the Emperor Road would soon appear.
• Liu Duanyuan revealed that Lu Changzhi would have to pose publicly as the Liu Clan member with the Aptitude of a Great Emperor.
• Lu Changzhi consulted the Dao-Severing Sword Spirit, who suggested the Liu Clan might be using him as a decoy for an undisclosed purpose.
• Liu Duanyuan offered Lu Changzhi a say in the wager battle and the Shen Clan’s fate if he agreed to the arrangement.
• Lu Changzhi accepted, then examined ways to prove his identity and selected the difficult Grasp of Return to the Void.

Lu Changzhi chose the Liu Clan’s Grasp of Return to the Void and asked whether his disciples could share in the clan’s benefits. Liu Duanyuan agreed to consider bringing them in if Lu Changzhi mastered the martial skill to major completion within ten years, and Lu Changzhi accepted the challenge.

• Lu Changzhi chose the Grasp of Return to the Void after Liu Duanyuan recognized his aptitude for void cultivation.
• Lu Changzhi considered choosing a martial skill for Xiao Ye, then asked whether his disciples could join him in benefiting from the Liu Clan’s resources.
• Liu Duanyuan realized that Gu Chen was Lu Changzhi’s disciple and learned that Lu Changzhi had six other disciples as well.
• Liu Duanyuan offered to seek permission for the disciples to use Liu Clan resources if Lu Changzhi reached major completion in the martial skill within ten years.
• Lu Changzhi accepted the requirement and joked that he might master the skill in less than five years.

Lu Changzhi received insights into One Grasp of Return to the Void and decided to fake his progress so he could claim the opportunity without alarming the Liu Clan. Meanwhile, Shen Tianxun and Shen Wentian planned to kill Gu Chen, whose bloodline and strength had impressed them, while using the fight to help Shen Wentian break through.

• Liu Duanyuan gave Lu Changzhi insights into One Grasp of Return to the Void and sent him back to the arena with a jade slip.
• Lu Changzhi concluded that only his consciousness had been taken away and wondered how to make his mastery of the martial skill look gradual.
• The system suggested that Lu Changzhi pretend not to know the skill and then pretend to learn it, and he decided the plan might work.
• Shen Tianxun recognized Gu Chen's bloodline and judged him a threat, then resolved that Gu Chen could not be allowed to live.
• Shen Tianxun felt sudden numbness in his brow, but dismissed it and warned Shen Wentian about Gu Chen's bloodline.
• Shen Wentian said his bloodline was excited by Gu Chen and asked Shen Tianxun to keep raising Gu Chen's strength during their fight so he could break through in a life-or-death battle.

Gu Chen completed ninety-nine consecutive matches before Shen Tianxun halted the arena and ordered him to rest before facing Shen Wentian. As Gu Chen worked to preserve his fighting state, Liu Duanyuan considered a deal with the Shen Clan, leaving Shen Tianxun confident that his plans were in place.

• Shen Tianxun stopped Gu Chen from continuing and required him to rest three shichen before the final match against Shen Wentian.
• A grandfather explained to his grandson that interrupting Gu Chen while he was in peak form could undermine his fighting state, which was what Shen Tianxun wanted.
• Qin Li advised Gu Chen to recover physically while maintaining his mindset through thought, and Gu Chen thanked her for the lessons he had applied in battle.
• Liu Duanyuan realized that Qin Li might have taught Gu Chen his martial techniques and considered asking about the disciples' concealment method.
• A Liu Clan member told Liu Duanyuan that Shen Tianxun had offered the Withering and Flourishing Sect's benefits in exchange for praise of its junior, and Liu Duanyuan said he understood.
• Shen Tianxun learned that Liu Duanyuan had not refused the offer and believed the plan was ready to unfold.

Shen Wentian revealed a powerful bloodline mark as his decisive match against Gu Chen began, but Gu Chen answered by releasing his own bloodline presence. The crowd believed Gu Chen had suppressed Shen Wentian’s bloodline, while Liu Duanyuan sensed that Gu Chen’s bloodline resembled the source of the Shen Clan’s.

• Shen Wentian praised Gu Chen before unleashing his strength and revealing a rare bloodline mark.
• Lu Changzhi noticed Shen Wenxi’s concern and encouraged her, then sent Gu Chen a message about using comparison to improve.
• Gu Chen released his bloodline presence, causing Shen Wentian’s blood mist and mark to disappear.
• The crowd assumed Gu Chen had suppressed Shen Wentian, while Shen Tianxun believed his son was deliberately saving his strength for a later reversal.
• Liu Duanyuan sensed that Gu Chen’s bloodline felt like the source of the Shen Clan’s bloodline.

Gu Chen and Shen Wentian fought with spears after Shen Wentian’s bloodline failed to respond, while Liu Duanyuan recognized that Gu Chen was still concealing his full strength. As the battle continued, Shen Wentian began to lose his earlier advantages and seek insight from the fight.

• Liu Duanyuan noticed that Gu Chen had no bloodline mark and that Shen Wentian’s bloodline seemed reluctant to fight.
• Shen Wentian failed to activate his bloodline, then challenged Gu Chen to fight without relying on it.
• Gu Chen and Shen Wentian clashed with spears, with Shen Wentian pressing forward while Gu Chen retreated in a controlled manner.
• Liu Duanyuan judged that Gu Chen was still holding back and believed Shen Tianxun remained unaware of the situation.
• After the fighters separated, Shen Wentian resolved to keep fighting and seek insight, but his attacks began to lose their earlier advantages.

Shen Wentian gained an unexpected breakthrough while fighting Gu Chen, but the crowd doubted the Shen Clan’s explanation. Shen Tianxun decided to intervene with a formation to help Shen Wentian kill Gu Chen.

• Gu Chen took the upper hand and sent Shen Wentian flying with a spear strike, but Shen Wentian immediately charged back into the fight.
• Shen Wentian grasped a new insight during their clash, and his momentum surged to a higher level.
• Liu Duanyuan concluded that Gu Chen’s fighting style had taught Shen Wentian by example, while Shen Tianxun asked him to lift the concealment around Wentian.
• The Shen Clan’s planted supporters claimed Shen Wentian had deliberately held back and used Gu Chen as a whetstone, but the crowd remained skeptical.
• Shen Tianxun decided to end the fight and began preparing a formation to help Shen Wentian kill Gu Chen.

Shen Tianxun tried to secretly strengthen Shen Wentian during his fight with Gu Chen, but Qin Li and Shen Wenxi altered the formation while Xiao Ye and Mu Fan exposed the interference. Gu Chen received the enhancement instead and crushed Shen Wentian, leaving him barely alive against the arena barrier.

• Shen Wentian charged at Gu Chen after deciding to unleash his strength, and Gu Chen eagerly met him with his spear.
• Shen Tianxun secretly manipulated the arena formation while Qin Li used essence blood to guide Shen Wenxi in altering it.
• Xiao Ye struck at Shen Tianxun with lightning, and Mu Fan shouted that Shen Tianxun was cheating, drawing attention to his interference.
• Shen Tianxun realized the formation had begun strengthening Gu Chen instead of Shen Wentian, but he could not switch it back in time.
• Gu Chen's power surged as he clashed with Shen Wentian, overwhelming him and hurling him into the arena barrier, battered and barely alive.

Gu Chen defeated Shen Wentian after Shen Wentian’s power suddenly drained away, leaving the crowd confused about the cause. Qin Li revealed that Shen Tianxun had tried to use the Faith-Forging Field, then accused him of crying foul to distract from his own trick.

• Gu Chen questioned why Shen Wentian had held back after the final clash left him badly injured against the arena barrier.
• Shen Tianxun rushed into the arena but was repelled by Liu Duanyuan, then entered again and tended to Shen Wentian with precious healing treasures.
• The crowd speculated about what had happened, while Qin Li and her companions were relieved that their plan had worked.
• Qin Li recalled that the Shen Clan had tried to use the Faith-Forging Field again, which only Shen Tianxun could activate.
• Shen Tianxun accused Gu Chen of using a despicable trick, and Qin Li countered that Shen Tianxun was the one who had used the Faith-Forging Field.

Qin Li exposed the Shen Clan’s Faith-Forging Field and forced Shen Tianxun to open the sealed arena. The crowd found no proof at first, but Qin Li named a hidden procedure that made Shen Tianxun’s guilt obvious, leaving him shaken as everyone questioned him.

• Qin Li told Liu Duanyuan that the arena held the secret behind the battle and pointed to the Faith-Forging Field’s core.
• Liu Duanyuan struck the marked spot and asked Shen Tianxun to open the sealed area so they could investigate.
• Shen Tianxun used the patriarch’s token to disable the restrictions, but the crowd found only ordinary Shen Clan materials.
• Liu Duanyuan argued that Shen Tianxun’s claim of no cheating meant the battle had been fair, while Shen Tianxun then accused Gu Chen of using improper methods inside the arena.
• Qin Li insisted the Faith-Forging Field was an outside object and described a precise procedure involving three formation restrictions and Shen Clan bloodline, leaving Shen Tianxun visibly rattled.

Qin Li revealed the Shen Clan’s hidden Faith-Forging Field and explained how it had affected the fight between Shen Wentian and Gu Chen. She left Shen Wentian with a shocking allegation about his parentage and the reasons Shen Tianxun may have wanted to weaken him.

• Liu Duanyuan took Shen Tianxun’s patriarch token and isolated him while Shen Wentian helped raise the three formation restrictions.
• Liu Duanyuan placed bloodline essence at the center of the restrictions, causing the Faith-Forging Field to appear.
• Qin Li explained that only the token’s marked owner could activate the field and that it altered its area to strengthen people within it.
• Qin Li suggested Shen Tianxun may have used the field against Shen Wentian because Shen Wentian was not his biological son.
• Qin Li urged Shen Wentian to question his mother and father about his origins and whether he had been used as nourishment.

Qin Li’s words led Shen Wentian to suspect that his father and the Shen Clan had been manipulating him, while Shen Wenxi learned that Qin Li had mixed truths with lies. After the Shen Clan lost the wagered battle, Shen Tianxun accidentally admitted he had activated the Faith-Forging Field and struggled to prove someone else had interfered.

• Shen Wentian reconsidered Shen Wenxi’s disappearance, the clan’s focus on him, his bloodline’s behavior, and the suspicious accident, then concluded his father wanted him dead.
• Shen Wenxi asked Qin Li about her claims, and Qin Li explained that her accusations against Shen Wentian were made up but that the Shen family’s relationships were genuinely tangled.
• Liu Duanyuan released Shen Tianxun from the isolation, and the crowd mocked him as they saw the Faith-Forging Field and discussed the Shen Clan’s private affairs.
• Liu Duanyuan declared that the Shen Clan had lost the wagered battle, and Shen Tianxun claimed someone had secretly interfered.
• Shen Tianxun admitted he had activated the Faith-Forging Field, prompting Liu Duanyuan to demand proof and ask whether the Shen Clan had lost or cheated.

Shen Tianxun admitted that the Shen Clan had lost the wager battle, and Liu Duanyuan officially declared the Withering and Flourishing Sect the winner. Du Niansheng asked Liu Duanyuan to take Shen Tianxun's brow for him, and Shen Tianxun readily agreed, believing the loss would be easy to recover from.

• Shen Tianxun weighed his choices and admitted that the Shen Clan had lost the wager battle.
• The Shen Clan's experts protested Shen Tianxun's decision, while Liu Duanyuan announced the Withering and Flourishing Sect as the winner.
• Liu Duanyuan reminded Du Niansheng that he could take one thing from Shen Tianxun and asked what he wanted.
• Du Niansheng requested Shen Tianxun's brow and asked Liu Duanyuan to remove it for him.
• Shen Tianxun accepted the request, pleased that Du Niansheng had chosen something he thought would grow back.

Liu Duanyuan restrained Shen Tianxun and began removing his unusual brow bone, despite Shen’s growing suspicion that the procedure might cripple him. After lifting the top of Shen Tianxun’s skull, Liu Duanyuan started cutting down both sides of the brow bone.

• Du Niansheng and Liu Duanyuan agreed that Liu would carry out the wager’s consequences, and Shen Tianxun accepted.
• Liu Duanyuan bound and gagged Shen Tianxun, then uncovered his enormous, purple, protruding brow.
• Liu Duanyuan probed Shen Tianxun’s body through the brow, causing him pain and deepening his fear that he was being set up.
• Liu Duanyuan used a cold, sharp blade to cut around Shen Tianxun’s skull and lift off its top.
• Liu Duanyuan began cutting downward along both sides of Shen Tianxun’s brow bone.

Liu Duanyuan removed Shen Tianxun’s blood-red brow bone, leaving the Shen Clan patriarch severely weakened and his hair white. After the wagered battle ended, Liu Duanyuan stayed to supervise the Shen Clan’s remaining obligations, while Gu Chen waited for his mission reward.

• Liu Duanyuan pulled Shen Tianxun’s brow bone free, causing his strength to rapidly decline and his hair to turn white.
• Shen Tianxun fell, and his skullcap rolled to Gu Chen’s feet as onlookers marveled at the Shen father and son’s ruin.
• Mu Fan watched Shen Tianxun’s weakened state and decided to visit him that night.
• Shen Clan elders treated Shen Tianxun, while Liu Duanyuan announced that he would remain to supervise the clan’s fulfillment of the wager.
• Crowds headed toward the Shen Clan to take advantage of its defeat, and Gu Chen returned to Lu Changzhi before sitting down to await his mission reward.

Gu Chen completed a mission and gained the Dragon Transformation Technique and more flexible sign-in missions, while Lu Changzhi received the Dragon Taming Divine Art and the ability to dispatch sign-in tasks. After the wagered battle opened a path into the Shen Clan, Shen Wenxi decided to visit her mother, and Mu Fan planned to confront Shen Tianxun.

• Gu Chen learned that the Dragon Transformation Technique granted perfect mastery and that sign-in missions no longer carried failure penalties or blocked other active missions.
• Lu Changzhi received the Dragon Taming Divine Art and sign-in mission labor dispatch, and wondered whether he could use the art on Gu Chen if he transformed into a dragon.
• Lu Changzhi noted that the wagered battle had weakened the Shen Clan's defenses and made the others' missions easier.
• Shen Wenxi told Xiao Ye she wanted to visit her mother to learn whether Qin Li's claims were true, and Xiao Ye agreed to accompany her.
• Mu Fan asked Xiao Ye to help him confront Shen Tianxun that night, then realized Qin Li had not meant for him to pursue the matter that way.
• A Shen Clan elder ordered Shen Tianxun and Shen Wentian carried away for treatment as the spectators looked forward to the next day.

As the Shen Clan prepared to lower its defenses for the wagered battle’s aftermath, Zhong Ming considered exploiting its ancestral graves. Meanwhile, Shen Wentian suspected his family intended to sacrifice him, and Shen Wenxi confronted Shen Tianyu about whether she and Shen Wentian had different fathers.

• A man proposed raiding the Shen Clan’s ancestral graves for buried treasures and remains, and Zhong Ming decided to find a way to pin the blame on others.
• The Shen Clan’s higher-ups debated shutting down their formations, then focused on treating Shen Tianxun and keeping him safe so he could contact the old clan leader.
• Shen Wentian questioned Shen Tianyu about Shen Wenxi’s survival and concluded that he needed to escape before he became nourishment.
• Shen Tianyu left Shen Wentian and went to meet Shen Wenxi outside the clan’s core area.
• Shen Wenxi asked Shen Tianyu whether she and Shen Wentian had the same mother but different fathers, and Shen Tianyu reacted in disbelief.

Shen Tianyu revealed that Shen Wenxi and Shen Wentian shared a mother but had different fathers, while Shen Wenxi questioned her mother’s sincerity and asked to visit the ancestors. Shen Tianyu directed her to the ancestral cemeteries, and later tried to visit the injured Shen Tianxun but was turned away; another senior arrived at his residence as the guards prepared to leave.

• Shen Tianyu told Shen Wenxi that she and Shen Wentian were half-siblings and said she did not know who Shen Wenxi’s father was.
• Shen Wenxi doubted Shen Tianyu’s affection, said she had returned only to look around, and accepted her mother’s identity token.
• Shen Wenxi asked where the ancestral cemetery was, and Shen Tianyu explained that the clan had three cemeteries but only two were open to her.
• Shen Wenxi told Zhong Ming about the cemeteries, and he noted that the Shen Clan’s precautions would make it difficult to wipe them all out at once.
• Shen Tianyu tried to visit the gravely injured Shen Tianxun but was turned away by the guards, then left to return after he woke.
• Another senior arrived at Shen Tianxun’s residence, and the guards greeted the newcomer respectfully.

Liu Qian offered the Shen Clan a supposed path to redemption after Shen Tianxun was injured, while Mu Fan planned to exploit the offer and prepare a gift for Xiao Ye’s father-in-law. As the Shen Clan secretly moved its valuables to a lower realm, Shen Tianxun awoke to find his cultivation, bloodline, meridians, soul, and spiritual sense badly damaged.

• Liu Qian told Shen Clan members that they could seek redemption by showing sincerity, then left when they could not wake Shen Tianxun.
• Mu Fan praised his scouting of the Shen Clan and planned to disguise himself as someone from the Liu Clan, calling his gift a path to redemption instead of Brain Platinum.
• Onlookers complained that the Shen Clan had until the next day to honor the wager and could move its possessions in the meantime.
• The Shen Clan dismantled or moved everything it could, storing its valuables in a lower realm reachable through its teleportation array.
• Shen Tianxun woke in a protected room and discovered that his cultivation had fallen several major realms, his bloodline seemed gone, and his meridians, soul, and spiritual sense were severely damaged.

After the Liu Clan’s attack left Shen Tianxun unable to heal his severed skullcap, he faced Mu Fan and Xiao Ye, who arrived to negotiate a path to redemption. The chapter ended with Shen Tianxun asking for the Liu Clan’s terms after disabling the room’s formation restrictions and arranging to record the talks.

• Shen Tianxun discovered that his severed skullcap would not heal back into place, despite applying medicinal liquid.
• Shen Tianxun learned that the Shen Clan was moving important resources to the lower realm and that someone from the Liu Clan had come to offer a path to redemption.
• Mu Fan arrived with Xiao Ye and warned that the Liu Clan would negotiate peacefully or take what it wanted by force.
• Mu Fan and Xiao Ye objected to the Shen Clan activating the room’s formation restrictions and joked about reporting that they had been mistreated.
• Shen Tianxun shut down the restrictions, the Shen elders brought out image-recording devices, and Shen Tianxun asked for the Liu Clan’s terms.

Mu Fan offered Shen Tianxun a healing hat as a show of “sincerity” before the Liu Clan’s planned coercion, and Shen Tianxun discovered that it possessed extraordinary healing power. Mu Fan then revealed a second gift, an enormous engraved bed, leaving the Shen Clan facing an even more suspicious offer.

• Mu Fan told Shen Tianxun that the Shen Clan could stay safe by paying a price, then presented him with a hat called Brain Platinum.
• Mu Fan explained that the hat healed injuries and urged Shen Tianxun to accept it as a gesture of courtesy before force.
• When Shen Tianxun hesitated, Xiao Ye activated a jade token and framed the Shen Clan as bullies, prompting Shen Tianxun to put on the hat.
• The hat released powerful life energy that eased Shen Tianxun’s pain and began healing his skull, leaving him astonished by its effects.
• Mu Fan said he had another gift for Shen Tianxun’s bodily injuries and summoned a huge engraved bed bearing the words, “The path to redemption lies right here.”

Mu Fan presented Shen Tianxun with a supposed path to redemption hidden in a strange object, while the Shen Clan elders learned the Liu Clan intended to exploit them. As lightning gathered outside, Shen Tianxun deciphered two runes just before the object cracked and unleashed a tremendous force.

• Mu Fan told Shen Tianxun to sit on the object and use his spiritual power to study the strange runes beneath it.
• Mu Fan revealed that the Shen Clan had to comprehend the path themselves, then admitted that he and Xiao Ye had been told to fleece them first and left to return later.
• Purple lightning spread over the Shen Clan as an amplified voice urged everyone to look up, reminding witnesses of the earlier disturbance.
• The Shen Clan elders realized the commotion might be connected to Mu Fan and Xiao Ye, but Shen Tianxun recognized two runes and murmured, "Woo... hoo?"
• The object beneath Shen Tianxun cracked, fire flashed inside it, and a tremendous force surged upward.