Chapter Summaries

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.

Mu Fan’s traps sent Shen Tianxun rocketing through the Shen Clan compound and blasted his regrowing skullcap into the air. The cap landed outside the secret realm, where its strange message pointed onlookers toward a prize hidden inside.

• Shen Tianxun crashed through the roof and shot into the sky, while flames formed the characters “Take off!” above the Shen Clan compound.
• Shen Tianxun realized the hat Mu Fan had given him was dangerous, but it exploded and launched his skullcap skyward.
• Mu Fan watched the spectacle, put away Shen Tianyu’s identity token, and left with Xiao Ye.
• Outside the secret realm, a man caught the falling skullcap and recognized it as the top of Shen Tianxun’s head.
• The onlookers found the words “Prize inside the cap” scorched onto the skullcap’s smooth inner side.

Mu Fan repeatedly blasted the unconscious Shen Tianxun while keeping him alive, and Shen Zhili discovered the Shen Clan was facing disaster after learning about the wager battle. The chapter ended with Shen Zhili demanding to know where Tianxun had gone.

• After Shen Tianxun vanished, two Shen Clan men realized Mu Fan and Xiao Ye had likely taken him and set out to find him.
• Mu Fan found Shen Tianxun unconscious in a sealed space, revived him with a flask, and repeatedly launched him with firecrackers while giving him more water to keep him alive.
• Shen Zhili noticed a jade pendant darkening and brightening, worried about Tianxun, and left his secret realm to investigate.
• Shen Zhili learned from a Shen Clan elder about the disastrous wager battle, including the hundred-to-one challenge and the Liu Clan's presence as witnesses.
• Shen Zhili angrily blamed Tianxun for risking the clan and asked the elder where Tianxun had gone.

Shen Zhili learned that Shen Tianxun had been set up and disappeared, then decided the Shen Clan could not hold off the powers gathering outside. Xiao Ye and Shen Wenxi searched for the clan’s remaining inheritances and planned to recover Shen Wenxi’s belongings, while Shen Wentian killed Xiaoyue after accusing her of serving the clan.

• Shen Zhili questioned the Shen Clan elders, learned that Shen Tianxun was missing after being set up, and recognized Liu Duanyuan’s wagered battle as a Liu Clan scheme.
• Shen Zhili concluded that the Shen Clan could not withstand the powers outside and headed for the clan’s lower realm to preserve its old roots.
• Xiao Ye learned from Shen Wenxi that the clan’s most important inheritances might still be with the old patriarch, then decided to handle other tasks first.
• Xiao Ye and Shen Wenxi used Shen Tianyu’s token to reenter the Shen Clan and recover Shen Wenxi’s belongings.
• Shen Wentian heard that Shen Tianxun had been blasted away, then pierced Xiaoyue’s brow with his broken arm bone, accusing her of serving the clan.

Shen Wenxi and Xiao Ye confronted Shen Wentian, and Tongtong subjected him to intense pain while Shen Wenxi followed its instructions. As Shen Wentian suffered, Xiao Ye comforted Shen Wenxi and made sure he could see them embracing.

• Shen Wentian decided he could no longer remain in the Shen Clan, but Shen Wenxi and Xiao Ye arrived before he could leave.
• Shen Wenxi confronted Shen Wentian, and Xiao Ye struck him with purple lightning when he charged at her.
• Tongtong and Shen Wenxi began dealing with Shen Wentian, inflicting intense pain while preventing him from screaming.
• Xiao Ye learned Tongtong had made the process hurt on purpose because Shen Wenxi had suffered the same pain before, and he told Tongtong to make Shen Wentian suffer more.
• Xiao Ye comforted Shen Wenxi, and after she said she wanted to focus on their present happiness, he embraced her where Shen Wentian could see.

Tongtong stripped Shen Wentian’s bloodline and restored it to Shen Wenxi, while Xiao Ye learned that the Shen Clan still owed her more. Shen Zhili arrived, claimed Shen Wenxi as his granddaughter, banished Shen Wentian, and was interrupted as he invited her away.

• Tongtong removed Shen Wentian’s entire bloodline and transferred it to Shen Wenxi, leaving Shen Wentian alive but nearly powerless.
• Xiao Ye learned that Shen Wentian had repaid four dou of the Shen Clan’s one shi bloodline debt, with six dou still owed.
• Shen Zhili arrived, and Xiao Ye called for his master after seeing the visitor’s cultivation realm.
• Shen Zhili recognized Shen Wenxi as his granddaughter and claimed he had come to protect her, while Shen Wentian realized his grandfather had been involved in taking her bloodline.
• Shen Zhili banished Shen Wentian into a rift in the void and invited Shen Wenxi to go somewhere with him, but a voice outside asked whether it could come too.

Lu Changzhi confronted Shen Zhili over his attempt to take Shen Wenxi away, and Liu Duanyuan revealed that Lu Changzhi was known as the Liu Clan’s prodigy with the Aptitude of a Great Emperor. Shen Zhili quickly changed his attitude and agreed to show them the Shen Clan’s nice places, though Lu Changzhi insisted they go immediately despite it being nighttime.

• Shen Zhili tried to take Shen Wenxi with him, but Lu Changzhi challenged his remarks about paying attention to people’s identities.
• Liu Duanyuan appeared and hinted that Lu Changzhi was the Liu Clan’s famous prodigy with the Aptitude of a Great Emperor.
• Shen Zhili apologized to Lu Changzhi after realizing his identity, while Shen Wenxi learned that Xiao Ye’s master was the famed prodigy.
• Xiao Ye told Shen Wenxi that, according to Senior Brother Mu, Lu Changzhi’s identity was likely just one of his master’s alternate identities.
• Shen Zhili agreed to take Lu Changzhi and the others to the Shen Clan’s nice places, and Lu Changzhi demanded they go that night.

Lu Changzhi brought Shen Zhili to the Shen Clan ancestral hall under the pretense of renovating it, then sent Luo Ling'er to demolish it with a sledgehammer. The hall’s protections stopped her from damaging the soul lamps and soul jades, but Liu Duanyuan warned Shen Zhili that he was in serious trouble.

• Shen Zhili took Lu Changzhi and Liu Duanyuan through a spatial rift to the Shen Clan ancestral hall after Lu Changzhi requested to see it.
• Lu Changzhi said the ancestral hall needed renovation and remodeling, then brought Luo Ling'er over to handle the work.
• Lu Changzhi asked Shen Zhili to deactivate the hall’s formations and restrictions, and Shen Zhili complied.
• Luo Ling'er struck the ancestral hall with her sledgehammer, shattering a wall and alarming Shen Zhili.
• Luo Ling'er hit the wall protecting the Shen Clan’s soul lamps and soul jades, but the formations repelled her hammer and Liu Duanyuan dispersed the counterattack.
• Liu Duanyuan confirmed the ancestral relics were unharmed and warned Shen Zhili that he was in trouble.

Shen Zhili gave up resisting as Luo Ling'er demolished the Shen Clan ancestral hall, while Liu Duanyuan took an interest in her strength and mysterious background. The chapter ended when a tiny hand seized Liu Duanyuan's finger and he shouted in shock.

• Shen Zhili deactivated the ancestral hall's remaining array restrictions, and Luo Ling'er resumed tearing it down as Shen Clan experts watched.
• Liu Duanyuan praised Luo Linger's strength and asked Lu Changzhi if he could guide her cultivation.
• Lu Changzhi said Luo Linger's background was complicated and that he had promised her parents not to reveal it.
• Liu Duanyuan advised Lu Changzhi to work hard and warned that the martial technique he had given him might not produce results.
• A tiny hand gripped Liu Duanyuan's little finger, and he shouted, alarming the Shen Clan experts and prompting Xiao Ye and Shen Wenxi to hide behind Lu Changzhi.

Lu Changzhi demonstrated an unconventional way of cultivating the Liu Clan’s Grasp of the Ruins of Return, impressing Liu Duanyuan. Pleased with the result, Liu Duanyuan ordered the Shen Clan to cooperate with Lu Changzhi and his disciples, leaving Shen Zhili stunned by the demand.

• Liu Duanyuan tested Lu Changzhi’s conjured palm and found that Lu Changzhi could make it vanish after shaving a layer of skin from his finger.
• Liu Duanyuan explained that Lu Changzhi had manifested the technique as a palm from the start, unlike other cultivators, and praised him for blazing a different trail.
• Lu Changzhi decided to keep cultivating the technique through his unconventional method.
• Liu Duanyuan returned with Lu Changzhi to the Shen Clan and told Shen Zhili that his good mood depended on the Shen Clan cooperating with Lu Changzhi and his disciples in every request.
• Shen Zhili’s smile froze as Liu Duanyuan threatened that the Liu Clan would get involved if the Shen Clan refused.

Xiao Ye and Lu Changzhi’s disciples made demands of the Shen Clan while Liu Duanyuan pressured Shen Zhili to cooperate in exchange for protection. The chapter ended with Lu Changzhi asking Qin Li what he intended to do about the Shen Clan’s powerful Beast Race member.

• Xiao Ye asked to borrow the Shen Clan’s collections and gather every Saint Realm expert in the clan at the square, and Liu Duanyuan agreed.
• Liu Duanyuan privately told Shen Zhili to arrange for the experts to gather, promising to protect Shen Zhili while warning that the others might be harmed.
• Shen Zhili chose to prioritize the living clansmen and accepted the requests to reduce the Shen Clan’s losses.
• Zhong Ming asked the Shen Clan to mark and guard the graves of its Saint King Realm experts and above, and Liu Duanyuan warned him about the Wu Clan’s Dao.
• Lu Changzhi designated the Shen Clan’s best cultivation grounds for Jin Fugui to use, then asked Qin Li about the clan’s powerful Beast Race member.