Recaps

Lin Xu secured permission to bring the wounded from the front-line camp to Peach Tree Village and treated their injuries. After stabilizing three soldiers with damaged souls, he secretly implanted spell seeds that would gradually turn them into his guardian deities and avatars.

• Lin Xu discovered that Xu Mingyuan’s soul was nearly destroyed and urged the camp elder to send the wounded to Peach Tree Village for treatment.
• The elder assigned Lin Xu to escort the wounded back with the daily supplies, adding a quest that increased his potential merit.
• Lin Xu transported the wounded to Peach Tree Village, treated their accumulated poison, and assigned the recovering men to the village guard.
• Lin Xu used the Bright Light Lamp to stabilize the damaged souls of Xu Mingyuan and two Dao soldiers.
• Lin Xu implanted a spell seed in one Dao soldier, beginning to refine him into a guardian deity and future avatar.

Lin Xu implanted Dharma seeds in three dying Xuanwei Monastery fighters and refined the ghost bride Yan Jingshu into a powerful guardian deity. He appointed her to command two elite ghosts, expanding the loyal force he hoped to build for his future bid to control the monastery.

• Lin Xu implanted Dharma seeds in three gravely wounded men, intending to cultivate loyal followers.
• Lin Xu examined the ghost bride's memories and learned that Yan Jingshu had been falsely accused of infidelity and drowned by her husband's family.
• Lin Xu refined Yan Jingshu's resentment with a Dharma seed and created the Soul-Cleansing Song of the Forgotten River for her cultivation.
• Yan Jingshu emerged from the Bright Light Lamp, accepted Lin Xu as her master, and displayed her new Nether Wedding Ferryman abilities.
• Lin Xu summoned a vengeful soul and a hanged ghost for Yan Jingshu to command, and she bound them with red silk and mana.

Lin Xu led a ghost procession under Yan Jingshu’s command as it gathered spirits and destroyed a ghost locust on the way to the frontline camp. On the return journey, the convoy found wandering Yin cultivators performing a ritual near Peach Tree Village, and Yan Jingshu began disrupting it.

• Yan Jingshu cleansed the vengeful spirit and the hanged ghost with the Soul-Cleansing Song of the Forgotten River, turning them into lantern-bearing attendants.
• Yan Jingshu gathered nearly a hundred ghosts into a procession that followed Lin Xu’s supply convoy through the fog.
• Yan Jingshu destroyed a ghost locust with her hair and blood-red hairpin, freeing its captive souls to join the procession.
• Lin Xu delivered supplies to the frontline camp and carried wounded soldiers back toward Peach Tree Village.
• Lin Xu spotted wandering Yin cultivators conducting a sacrificial rite, and Yan Jingshu’s song extinguished their sacrificial fire.

Lin Xu defeated the Yin cultivators’ ghost assault, rescued Meng Yaoguang and Meng Yaohua, and gained three ghostly followers. He returned to Peach Tree Village to begin cultivating spirit fields, then studied the Spirit-Nurturing Cauldron he had obtained from the sect treasury.

• Yan Jingshu used the Soul-Cleansing Melody to turn the Yin cultivators’ vengeful souls against them and refine their spirits into red-robed ghosts.
• Meng Yaoguang and Meng Yaohua thanked Lin Xu for rescuing them and revealed their rare Twin Soul Pact talent.
• Lin Xu brought the twins and the three new ghosts back to Peach Tree Village, where he inspected the supplies for reclaiming farmland.
• Lin Xu inscribed spirit tools, and the villagers and outer disciples prepared the first spirit field with plows, seed drills, and the Spirit Rain Spell.
• Lin Xu examined the Spirit-Nurturing Cauldron and studied its formations before sitting down to meditate on artifact refining.

Lin Xu successfully refined Spirit Gathering Pills, advanced his alchemy skill to Grandmaster, and created a pill coating that gathered Spiritual Qi to improve the pills over time. After consuming one and cultivating, he increased his Intelligence and estimated he would reach Level 5 in two or three days.

• Lin Xu refined his first batch of three Spirit Gathering Pills, raising Basic Alchemy from Beginner to Expert.
• Lin Xu refined a second batch of five higher-quality pills, advancing Basic Alchemy to Grandmaster.
• Lin Xu used Ultra-Precise Alchemy to inscribe miniature Spirit Gathering Formations on the pills, allowing them to gather Spiritual Qi and improve over time.
• Lin Xu consumed a Spirit Gathering Pill and cultivated, using Thought Overclocking to examine and nourish his body and brain's nerves.
• Lin Xu's Intelligence rose by 1 to 17, and he estimated that he would break through to Level 5 in two or three days.

Lin Xu crafted the Essence-Gathering Treasure Bottle to let cultivators accelerate spirit-plant growth while conserving their own Spiritual Qi. With Peach Tree Village’s fields expanding and war threatening nearby, he turned to training a group of cultivators to support farming and defense.

• After dinner, Lin Xu checked the spirit fields and realized their development and the three-month spirit-rice growing period were too slow given the nearby war.
• Lin Xu reasoned that a Dharma artifact could let more cultivators use the Essence Acceleration Mantra, then designed and crafted the Essence-Gathering Treasure Bottle.
• Lin Xu tested the bottle’s arrays, confirmed it could gather Spiritual Qi and accelerate plant growth, and made more than twenty bottles from affordable materials.
• Lin Xu decided to train a core group of cultivators and focused on Peach Tree Village’s militiamen, whose limited aptitude would still be useful at beginner levels.

Lin Xu used newly advanced Daoists and Essence-Gathering Treasure Bottles to accelerate the growth of Peach Tree Village’s spirit rice, then burned a Wish Talisman to make it mature in three days. After three days of delivering supplies and tending to the wounded, Lin Xu finally broke through to the Day Wandering Realm.

• Lin Xu selected 23 militiamen with sufficient intelligence and spirit, appointed Xu Mingyuan captain of the protectors, and had him help them advance into Daoists.
• Lin Xu gave the new Daoists Essence-Gathering Treasure Bottles, and they used the Essence-Accelerating Technique to speed up growth across Peach Tree Village’s spirit fields.
• Lin Xu burned a Wish Talisman and wished for the spirit rice to mature as quickly as possible; the rice’s growing period was shortened to three days.
• Lin Xu spent the next three days delivering military supplies and bringing wounded soldiers back from the front-line camp.
• Lin Xu broke through to the Day Wandering Realm.

Lin Xu reached level 5, tempered his soul in sunlight, and learned to fly, then went to Xuanwei Monastery to claim advanced cultivation chapters. He left the Scripture Pavilion with both chapters and a new soul-refinement scripture.

• Lin Xu tested his stronger soul body in sunlight and refined it until its edges took on a faint azure hue.
• Lin Xu decided to become a true disciple before the coming great battle and used his Cloud-Treading Shoes to fly from Peach Tree Village to the monastery.
• Lin Xu visited the Scripture Pavilion, where the elder confirmed his breakthrough and advised him to accumulate merit toward the 200,000-point requirement for true discipleship.
• Lin Xu claimed the advanced chapters of the Bright Lamp Spirit Kindling Art and Mystic Art God-Descending Technique.
• Lin Xu bought the Mystic Yin Soul Refining Scripture for 300 Dharma Coins.

Lin Xu merged the advanced cultivation arts into the Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter, purified and strengthened himself, and refined his Bright Light Lamp into a Spirit Light Glazed Lamp. He then discovered that Peach Tree Village’s spirit-rice harvest could provide the merit needed to become a true disciple of Xuanwei Monastery.

• Lin Xu studied the advanced arts and created the advanced Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter, which purified his body and formed the protective Glazed Mystic Light Robe.
• Lin Xu refined spiritual materials into his Bright Light Lamp, elevating it into a Spirit Light Glazed Lamp with nine rings of patterns and enhanced abilities.
• Lin Xu decided to earn merit points and become a true disciple of Xuanwei Monastery as soon as possible.
• Chen Yuanfu, the village chief, Wang Yue, and the villagers harvested and processed spirit rice from Peach Tree Village’s hundred mu of fields.
• Wang Yue told Lin Xu that the fields had yielded one hundred shi of spirit rice, all of it spirit rice.
• Lin Xu calculated that the harvest was worth two hundred thousand merit points, enough to meet the requirement for becoming a true disciple.

Lin Xu refined spirit rice into pills, earned two hundred thousand merit points, and was approved for promotion to true transmission disciple. While waiting for the next day’s ceremony, he learned the true transmission art, Spirit Lamp Prayer Art.

• Lin Xu refined over two thousand Spirit Grain Pills from spirit rice and exchanged them for two hundred thousand merit points.
• Lin Xu presented his jade slip to Daoist Xuanzhen and requested confirmation as a true transmission disciple.
• Daoist Xuanzhen approved Lin Xu and ordered a ceremony for the following morning.
• The attendant gave Lin Xu a true transmission token, a red Daoist robe, and the Daoist book for Spirit Lamp Prayer Art.
• Lin Xu stayed in the main hall, used the Daoist book, and began comprehending Spirit Lamp Prayer Art.

Lin Xu became a true disciple of Xuanwei Monastery, received the Mountains and Rivers Reflection Mirror, and completed his trial. He returned to reality to find Chen Hao threatening his family over the Black Tiger Gang, then confronted him.

• Lin Xu learned that Xuanwei Monastery's Heart Lamp System used incense-offering currencies to make wishes and support cultivation.
• Daoist Xuanzhen confirmed Lin Xu as a true disciple and bestowed the Mountains and Rivers Reflection Mirror upon him.
• Lin Xu completed the remaining ceremony, returned to Peach Tree Village, and received confirmation that his trial mission was complete.
• Lin Xu chose to return to reality, where Chen Hao was pressuring Jiang Wanqing and Lin Xu's mother over Liang Hu's threat.
• Lin Xu appeared behind Chen Hao and calmly asked where Liang Hu was.

Lin Xu returned to school after passing the Spirit Realm Trial and enslaved Chen Hao with a bronze mirror, then forced him to reveal Liang Hu’s location. After demonstrating his power, Lin Xu flew toward the Black Tiger Gang’s base in the south of Meng City to confront them.

• Lin Xu bound Chen Hao as a mirror slave and tortured him until Director Zhang intervened.
• Lin Xu revealed he had passed the Spirit Realm Trial and reunited with his mother and Jiang Wanqing.
• Uncle Wang attacked Lin Xu, but Lin Xu burned him with his glazed lamp and revealed himself as an intermediate-stage Daoist.
• Lin Xu gave Chen Hao five minutes to disclose Liang Hu’s whereabouts, and Chen Hao identified the Black Tiger Gang’s base at an abandoned factory south of the city.
• Lin Xu told his mother and Jiang Wanqing to go home, then flew toward the abandoned factory as onlookers watched without stopping him.

Lin Xu killed Liang Hu and forced the Black Tiger Gang to submit, then returned to Meng City’s old quarter. He left Zhang Meng to root out Liang Hu’s remaining followers and headed home to his family.

• Lin Xu confronted Liang Hu at the Black Tiger Gang’s stronghold and killed him with a fire python.
• Lin Xu threatened the gang members, and Zhang Meng led them in attacking a wounded man who had been one of Liang Hu’s trusted followers.
• Zhang Meng promised to eliminate Liang Hu’s remaining loyalists within a day, and Lin Xu ordered him to report to the Lin family home.
• After Lin Xu left, Zhang Meng rallied the gang members to make their move that night and declared them brothers in life and death.
• Lin Xu walked through Meng City’s old quarter, greeted his neighbors, and continued home to his family.

Lin Xu returned home from the Spirit Realm, declined to commit to joining the Night Watchers, and reunited with his mother and Jiang Wanqing. Jiang Wanqing returned to her ailing grandfather, who revealed his concern over the Chen Lineage’s pressure and hinted that Lin Xu was the Jiang Clan’s son-in-law.

• Zhao Chengyuan and Su Li invited Lin Xu to join the Night Watchers, and he said he would consider it after handling family matters.
• Lin Xu greeted his mother and father’s memorial, then told Jiang Wanqing and his mother about his mission at Xuanwei Monastery and his plans to return to the Spirit Realm.
• Jiang Wanqing warned Lin Xu that Meng City would be unsettled and that he should watch out for the Chen Lineage.
• Jiang Wanqing returned to her grandfather, who said the Chen Lineage had targeted her and that he had planned to take her to another city before she went into the Spirit Realm.

Jiang Wanqing’s grandfather urged her to marry Lin Xu and ally the Jiang Clan with him against Chen Lingfeng, who planned to destroy the Jiang Clan using a Spirit Realm coordinate. The coordinate triggered a Spirit Realm Mist invasion of the Jiang compound, where Jiang Wanqing learned her grandfather was trapped in the most dangerous part of the estate.

• Jiang Yelei told Jiang Wanqing that Lin Xu’s talent made him a target and proposed marriage to secure him the Jiang Clan’s protection and support.
• Chen Lingfeng rejected an immediate attack on Lin Xu and ordered Meng Changlin to plant a sealed Spirit Realm coordinate in the Jiang Clan compound.
• Jiang Wanqing considered her grandfather’s plan to join forces with Lin Xu, then heard an alarm as Spirit Realm Mist spread through the compound.
• Jiang Wanqing encountered a horrifying ghost baby, lost her evil-warding talisman, and armed herself with a soul-suppressing talisman.
• Two guards told Jiang Wanqing that the eastern courtyard had collapsed, evil creatures surrounded the western courtyard, and Jiang Yelei was trapped in the rear courtyard where the evil Qi was strongest.

As the Jiang Clan compound was swallowed by Spirit Realm mist, Lin Xu sensed the invasion from afar while considering an alliance with Jiang Wanqing's family. The chapter ended with Zhou Qian trapped as a ghost emerged from her bedroom wall.

• Jiang Wanqing urged Uncle Wang and Uncle Li to gather the scattered survivors, but a red-clad vengeful ghost broke through the protective array and attacked Uncle Wang.
• Chen Xuan and Captain Meng Changlin watched the Jiang Clan compound from outside as the Night Watchers sealed off the surrounding streets and prepared to leave no survivors.
• Lin Xu found cultivation in the mortal world ineffective and considered recruiting the declining Jiang Clan to help build a force and gather worship and wish power.
• Lin Xu used the Glazed Spirit Lamp to extend his spiritual awareness and detected a familiar, decayed presence at a residential building several li away.
• Zhou Qian called the Night Watchers for help, heard a ghostly voice answer through the phone, and saw a bluish-gray hand emerge from her bedroom wall.

Lin Xu sensed a Spirit Realm invasion at the Jiang Clan's old residence and rushed there, destroying the creatures and the beacon that had spread the mist. He found a red-robed vengeful ghost choking Jiang Wanqing and launched a fiery attack as the chapter ended.

• Lin Xu used golden flames to destroy an uncanny creature threatening Zhou Qian, then sensed a sinister presence near the Jiang Clan's old residence.
• Lin Xu flew toward the residence and destroyed three shadowy figures that tried to block him; Meng Changlin ordered his team to let Lin Xu pass.
• Lin Xu pierced the Spirit Realm mist and burned the uncanny creatures attacking the courtyard's survivors.
• Lin Xu destroyed a bloody stone that contained a Spirit Realm Beacon, causing the mist to thin and dissipate.
• Lin Xu saw the red-robed vengeful ghost holding Jiang Wanqing by the throat and sent a fiery python lunging at it.

Lin Xu captured the level 7 vengeful ghost and destroyed the corpse-guarding ghost with the Glazed Spirit Lamp and Soul Shock Blast. After healing Jiang Yelei, he joined the Jiang Clan survivors as they assessed the damage, and Jiang Yelei acknowledged Lin Xu’s strength.

• Lin Xu used the spirit lamp to capture one of the three bloody shadows as Meng Changlin fled the scene.
• Lin Xu drove back the sinister gray mist and confronted the corpse-guarding ghost in the Jiang Clan compound.
• Jiang Yelei warned Lin Xu that the corpse-guarding ghost was nearly impossible to destroy, but Lin Xu struck it with Soul Shock Blast and burned it to ash.
• Lin Xu collected the strange creature’s loot and used the Rejuvenation Art to stabilize Jiang Yelei’s injuries.
• Jiang Wanqing reunited with Jiang Yelei, who sent the clansmen to aid the injured and assess the losses.
• Jiang Yelei told Lin Xu that he had never expected him to be so strong.

Lin Xu and the Jiang Clan discussed the Spirit Realm Beacon behind the invasion and the weakened government’s balance with powerful regional factions. Jiang Yelei advised Lin Xu that a Spirit Realm power needed a real-world foundation, leaving Lin Xu to consider how to build one in Meng City.

• Lin Xu told Jiang Yelei that he had encountered people lying in ambush and trying to intercept him, and Jiang Yelei suspected Chen Lingfeng had targeted the Jiang Clan.
• Lin Xu showed the group fragments of the object that had held open the Spirit Realm rift, and Jiang Yelei identified it as a Spirit Realm Beacon used by cultists.
• Jiang Yelei explained how regional professionals and former Yulin Guard members had gained power, while the government maintained national unity through a fragile balance.
• Lin Xu said he planned to establish a base in Meng City as a transit point between the Spirit Realm and reality.
• Jiang Yelei warned Lin Xu that a Spirit Realm power would be difficult to sustain without a real-world foundation, and Lin Xu asked for his guidance.

Lin Xu learned about the Chen Lineage’s control over Meng City and accepted Jiang Wanqing’s help in establishing himself. After Lin Xu defeated the Chen Lineage’s attackers, Chen Lingfeng ordered an investigation into Lin Xu and suspected someone had leaked the plan.

• Jiang Yelei told Lin Xu that the Chen Lineage dominated Meng City and offered the Jiang Clan’s help in building his influence.
• Jiang Yelei proposed that Jiang Wanqing handle political affairs for Lin Xu, and Lin Xu agreed to work with her.
• Jiang Yelei reflected that he hoped to prevent a repeat of Jiang Yungui’s disappearance in the Spirit Realm.
• Meng Changlin told Chen Lingfeng that Lin Xu had killed three attackers and swiftly defeated a red-clad vengeful ghost and a corpse-guarding ghoul.
• Chen Lingfeng ordered Meng Changlin to investigate Lin Xu’s background and identify who had warned him about the attack.

Lin Xu learned more about the Black Tiger Gang and Meng City’s power structure as Zhang Meng pledged the gang’s support. The two concluded that Chen Lingfeng would not tolerate Lin Xu’s rise, leaving Lin Xu aware that conflict with the Chen Lineage was likely.

• Zhang Meng visited Lin Xu with gifts, and Lin Xu told him to leave them at the door and call him A-Xu or Brother Xu.
• Zhang Meng said Liang Hu’s trusted men had been dealt with and reported that the Black Tiger Gang had over a thousand members, including seven Spirit Realm adventurers.
• Lin Xu asked about Meng City’s gangs, and Zhang Meng explained that the Chen Lineage controlled the city while the Black Tiger Gang was one of its three major gangs.
• Lin Xu told Zhang Meng that the Black Tiger Gang would watch over Meng City’s underworld and make sure no news escaped them.
• Zhang Meng asked whether Lin Xu opposed the Chen Lineage, then described Chen Lingfeng’s ruthless rule and suspected role in killing a rising clan’s genius.

Lin Xu gave Zhang Meng a Dharma Seed, making him a Daoist and binding him to Lin Xu as an ally against Chen Lingfeng. After Zhang Meng departed, Lin Xu prepared to return to the Spirit Realm and wondered why his Source Fire had replenished so quickly and what his dungeon entry ticket might lead to.

• Lin Xu told Zhang Meng that he had allied with the Jiang Clan and planned to oppose Chen Lingfeng rather than become his lackey.
• Lin Xu offered Zhang Meng a Dharma Seed that would open his Divine Aperture, warning that accepting it would bind Zhang Meng to his restrictions.
• Zhang Meng swore loyalty to Lin Xu and accepted the Dharma Seed, awakening as a Daoist with a dark-gold-grade cultivation technique.
• Zhang Meng left with his lackey, while Lin Xu decided the Black Tiger Gang could help gather intelligence and spread rumors.
• Lin Xu noticed his Source Fire had replenished unusually quickly and connected the change to the special dungeon entry ticket he had found in a treasure chest.

Lin Xu arranged for his family and the Jiang Clan to move to safety before returning to the Spirit Realm, while Chen Lingfeng’s Night Watchers arrested Li Meng as the suspected mole and ordered his family killed. Back in Peach Tree Village, Lin Xu found that little had changed and considered his identity panel after the trial mission ended.

• Lin Xu arranged for Mother Lin and the Jiang Clan to move downtown, away from Chen Lingfeng’s reach.
• Chen Lingfeng and Meng Changlin accused Li Meng of being the mole who tipped off Lin Xu about the operation at the Jiang Clan compound.
• Chen Lingfeng’s Night Watchers sealed Li Meng’s internal Qi and dragged him away, and Chen Lingfeng ordered his family to be given quick deaths.
• Lin Xu returned to the Spirit Realm and was greeted by Meng Yaoguang and another woman in the quiet chamber at Peach Tree Village.
• Lin Xu learned that little had changed during his absence and examined his updated identity information, noting that the trial mission had ended without giving him what he wanted.

Lin Xu reviewed the privileges of a true disciple and resolved to pursue the vacant mastership of the Incense Offering Hall. He then began preparing the Ghost Bride’s forces for his plans by refining their souls, starting with a resentful lantern-bearing ghost.

• Lin Xu learned that a true disciple with a million merit points and Daoist Xuanzhen’s approval could become a deacon elder, and he chose to aim for the Incense Offering Hall.
• Lin Xu studied the Mystic Yin Soul Refining Scripture and incorporated it into the Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter as the Soul-Cleansing Song of the Forgotten River.
• Yan Jingshu reported that she had gathered 317 red-clad wedding escort ghosts, five night-roaming wandering souls, and three lantern-bearing ghosts.
• Lin Xu ordered Yan Jingshu to bring the ghosts to his quiet chamber in batches for Water and Fire Refinement and Deliverance.
• Lin Xu used Glazed Heart Fire to cleanse a resentful lantern-bearing ghost and inscribed the Soul-Cleansing Song of the Forgotten River onto Yin soul paper, transforming the ghost into a paper figure.

Lin Xu escorted supplies to the frontline camp with his newly assembled forces, then led them toward a demon stronghold near a Spirit Vein. As his group approached the mountain, Li Yingqiu was hiding nearby among the demon patrols, desperate to survive and return to save Sixian.

• Lin Xu sent his convoy out under the protection of Dharma protectors, Taoist soldiers, militiamen, and the Ghost Bride’s paper-figure ghosts.
• The Ghost Bride’s forces trapped and refined seventeen vicious nightmares into lamp oil, and the convoy reached the frontline camp safely.
• After completing the escort, Lin Xu headed for the hills to claim the demon stronghold and its Spirit Vein as a strategic base.
• The Ghost Bride’s paper-figure ghosts killed seventeen wandering corpses near the mountain and drew their remnant souls into the spirit lamp.
• Li Yingqiu hid in a tree near a demon patrol, prepared to fight if discovered, but a squirrel distracted the dog demon and the patrol moved on.