Recaps

Lin Xu chose Xuanwei Monastery as his main territory, and the Spirit Realm merged it with Azure Cloud Mountain into a vast, monster-filled region. He rescued an attacked Outpost Barracks and secured the soldiers’ allegiance, leaving the outpost under his control.

• Lin Xu chose Xuanwei Monastery as his main territory because of its connection to the human path and his cultivation.
• The Spirit Realm fused Xuanwei Monastery and Azure Cloud Mountain, creating a large territory where monsters and settlements had appeared.
• Lin Xu discovered an unclaimed Outpost Barracks and saw that Weird Spiders were overwhelming its guards.
• Lin Xu used Glazed Purifying Fire to burn the Weird Spiders and save the outpost’s soldiers.
• Lin Xu declared himself the lord, and the captain and soldiers swore allegiance as the Outpost Barracks’ affiliation changed.

Lin Xu upgraded the outpost into a fully equipped fortress that could train troops, then returned to Xuanwei Monastery and checked on Think Thrice as the young Dragon Lizard grew rapidly. He turned to planning how to expand the territory’s population and farmland.

• Lin Xu upgraded the outpost to level 3, recruited soldiers, and built its military facilities, walls, and defenses.
• Lin Xu discovered that the completed outpost could train up to 100 spearmen, archers, and scout cavalry each month.
• Lin Xu ordered the outpost held, then had Zhao Dan open a path to it and establish patrol points around the new territory.
• Lin Xu visited Think Thrice, whose first dormancy had made him nearly half a meter longer, and watched him eat a large portion of spirit rice.
• Lin Xu concluded that the territory needed more people, farmland, and basic resources as Peach Tree Village prepared to reclaim another three thousand mu of wasteland.

After upgrading Xuanwei Monastery, Lin Xu recruited new residents and disciples, then discovered he could fuse rabbit demons with Earth Vein Spirits to create additional construction workers. He began looking for more weak demons to expand the dungeon workforce.

• Lin Xu recruited the available laborers and outer disciples, then assigned them among the halls and villages while the Dao children began farming.
• Lin Xu observed that Azure Cloud Mountain’s wild monsters had increased, allowing the black tiger demon to replenish the demon soldiers.
• Five rabbit demons emerged from the Demon Refining Cave, but Lin Xu judged them too weak for combat and considered other uses for them.
• Lin Xu fused a rabbit demon with a Heavenly Craftsman Strongman, creating a construction worker with a real body and freeing one of the limited worker slots.
• Lin Xu fused the remaining four rabbit demons, bringing the construction workforce to forty-five, and began searching the territory for other weak demons suitable for fusion.

Lin Xu prepared to return to the real world after recognizing that his territory needed more spiritual materials and talented people. Meanwhile, Qi Changhao and Meng Yunxu's adventurers entered the territory and were attacked by a lynx spirit.

• Lin Xu recruited monsters as Heavenly Craftsman Strongmen, who rapidly expanded the underground city, but he discovered that spirit rune construction required more spiritual materials.
• Lin Xu decided to return to the real world to seek resources and people, and prepared to leave from the monastery.
• Qi Changhao and Meng Yunxu led adventurers into the territory using a guiding compass, while Meng Yunxu warned that their beacon had been destroyed and they might be expected.
• Qi Changhao believed the territory was newly established and lacked a firm foundation, and hoped it might possess a way to train Taoist-class people in large numbers.
• A lynx spirit ambushed a three-person adventurer team, slashing an archer and killing him before the two survivors recognized the monster.

A lynx spirit ambushed Meng Yunxu’s scouting party, but Li Yingqiu’s forces captured the surviving adventurers and brought them to the Azure Cloud Cave Abode. Li Yingqiu learned that a city big shot had traced her through the recently forged spirit-patterned sword and ordered the prisoners held until the lord returned.

• The lynx spirit hypnotized and killed an adventurer from Meng Yunxu’s group with its Dark Pupil skill.
• Qi Changhao discovered through a spell eye that Team Three had been killed, and the adventurers spotted a shadow moving through the fog.
• Li Yingqiu greeted the captured survivors at the Azure Cloud Cave Abode and questioned Meng Yunxu about how they had found her.
• Meng Yunxu revealed that the Night Watchers had sent his group to identify the artificer behind Li Yingqiu’s recently sold spirit-patterned sword.
• Li Yingqiu learned that Meng Yunxu had bought a Spirit Realm Beacon through Dujiao San and ordered the prisoners locked in the cave until the lord returned.
• Yang Hui said that a lynx spirit had escaped and attacked the group, while Li Yingqiu told Duan Wei to watch the prisoners as a chance to redeem himself.

Lin Xu returned to reality and discovered a cultist performing a blood sacrifice to an evil god. He destroyed the cultist and purified the remaining divine power, then received Source Fire from the Will of Civilization; the little girl survived but remained unconscious.

• Lin Xu returned to an abandoned room and sensed that his connection to the Spirit Realm had grown stronger.
• Lin Xu detected Spirit Realm energy in an apartment building and found a cultist preparing to sacrifice a living girl beside two corpses.
• Lin Xu burned the blue-robed cultist, who said the Lord of Change had seen him before mutating into a mass of flesh.
• Lin Xu purified the cultist’s ghostly rune in the Glazed Spirit Lamp, which began transforming, though the divine power was insufficient to complete it.
• The Will of Civilization rewarded Lin Xu with about 100 points of Source Fire, and he saw that the girl had survived but remained unconscious.

Lin Xu rescued the sole surviving child from a cultists’ blood sacrifice and grew suspicious of the unusually swift Night Watchers response. He learned that Inspector Xia Jingyi had arrived to curb the Chen Lineage and intended to make him Meng City’s new local representative.

• Lin Xu saved the little girl from the blood sacrifice array, and his resolve to protect his family stirred a connection with Yan Jingshu.
• Lin Xu concealed himself as the Night Watchers arrived, then noticed that the cultists’ attack and the response raised troubling questions.
• Lin Xu visited Old Master Jiang, who explained that the Wheel of Fate cult had targeted Meng City and was weakening its reality barrier.
• Old Master Jiang told Lin Xu that Inspector Xia Jingyi had come from the capital to investigate the Chen Lineage and wanted Chen Lingfeng to step down.
• Old Master Jiang revealed that Xia intended to choose Lin Xu as Meng City’s new local representative.

Lin Xu agreed to help Inspector Xia dismantle Chen Lingfeng’s influence in Meng City, but Chen raided the Jiang Clan compound and accused Lin Xu of cult activities and murder. As Inspector Xia challenged the operation, Chen attacked Lin Xu, and the confrontation ended with several Night Watchers collapsing after Lin Xu’s spiritual sense spread through the room.

• Lin Xu accepted Inspector Xia’s proposal to become deputy director and dismantle the Chen Lineage’s network through proper channels.
• Chen Lingfeng’s Night Watchers surrounded the Jiang Clan compound, broke in, and attacked the guards as Chen accused Lin Xu of crimes.
• Inspector Xia arrived and challenged Chen Lingfeng’s evidence and authority, but his loyalists refused to leave.
• Chen Lingfeng attacked Lin Xu after Lin Xu asked about the little girl, and Elder Jiang blocked the sword and urged Lin Xu to run.
• Several Night Watchers fell dizzy, and Chen Lingfeng demanded to know what Lin Xu had done.

Lin Xu’s fight with Chen Lingfeng was interrupted when an orc Spirit Realm territory began anchoring itself to Meng City’s Third Ring district. As Night Watchers and soldiers engaged the invading orcs, Lin Xu and the others faced a growing invasion caused by the cultists’ blood sacrifice.

• Lin Xu and Elder Jiang attacked Chen Lingfeng, while Xia Jingyi and Wei Xiuyuan tried to stop the fight.
• Xia Jingyi warned that the Spirit Realm was invading Meng City, and Chen Lingfeng ordered the Third Ring district sealed before fleeing through a window.
• Lin Xu and the others reached the Third Ring district, where Xia Jingyi identified the invaders as orcs and the orc leader blamed the blood sacrifice for revealing an anchor point.
• The Bone Anvil Tribe’s orcs emerged from the mist and threatened to destroy the human camp as more of them crossed the rift.
• Night Watchers and soldiers fought the orcs with firearms, while the orcs used bows, bone spears, and enchanted weapons to inflict casualties and counterattack.

Lin Xu, Xia Jingyi, Chen Lingfeng, and the Night Watchers fought an elite orc invasion in Meng City's residential district as the attackers slaughtered residents and overwhelmed human defenders. Lin Xu surveyed the crowded buildings and realized the danger was far greater than the defenders could manage, but a sniper cannon blast offered a powerful counterattack.

• An enchanted orc warrior broke through the Night Watchers' line, killing several defenders and forcing the rest to retreat.
• Lin Xu's mother comforted Jiang Wanqing at home while they worried about Lin Xu and the others fighting outside.
• Xia Jingyi attacked the orcs with her dragon-phoenix rings and killed three warriors, while Chen Lingfeng joined the battle with his longsword.
• Lin Xu circled the district and found that orcs were searching its 23 densely occupied buildings, where thousands of residents were at risk.
• Lin Xu recognized that humanity had too few class holders with Transcendent Source Power to match the invading orcs.
• A 35-millimeter sniper cannon exploded among the orcs, scattering their limbs in a burst of fire.

Lin Xu fought the invading orcs and realized their deaths were fueling a blood sacrifice that was widening the Spirit Realm passage. He set out to stop the remaining rituals, leaving Monk Zhixing and the Night Watcher Unit to handle one site.

• The Night Watcher Unit switched to explosives and heavier weapons as reinforcements arrived, while Lin Xu used his spells to kill orcs and noted how much stronger they had become.
• Lin Xu saw the corpses being drained of vitality and observed an orc projection gradually solidify as it crossed into reality.
• Lin Xu stopped fighting and searched for the remaining sacrificial sites, realizing the cultists had begun a new ritual after he destroyed one site.
• Lin Xu encountered Monk Zhixing being escorted by the Night Watcher Unit and learned that Zhixing was heading to destroy a ritual site.
• Lin Xu warned Zhixing to watch for cultists and flew toward another abnormal energy point, while Zhixing recognized the depth of Lin Xu's power.

Lin Xu destroyed a second sacrifice array, purifying an evil god’s power and strengthening his Bond with Meng City. At the third site, he found a murdered child and two Night Watchers, then joined the fight against a powerful Tzeentch demon that could move between the Spirit Realm and reality.

• Lin Xu burned away the second sacrifice array, exposed its runestone, and purified the evil god’s power with the Glazed Spirit Lamp.
• Lin Xu sensed that destroying the array had strengthened his Bond with reality and flew toward the next node.
• Lin Xu arrived at the third sacrifice site and found a little girl and two female Night Watchers dead beside the array.
• The Changeling overwhelmed the Night Watchers with illusions and powerful spells as they fought to destroy the array.
• Lin Xu dispelled the magical mist, introduced himself to the surviving Night Watchers, and warned them that the Changeling could move between the Spirit Realm and reality.

Lin Xu helped Li Yue and the Night Watchers battle the Changeling, a Tzeentch demon that attacked from the Spirit Realm and foresaw their moves. After Lin Xu destroyed the sacrificial array’s hidden core, Li Yue charged the demon, which perished in Glazed Fire; the survivors then searched for Yinyin.

• Li Yue led the Night Watchers in striking the blood-lit array while Lin Xu used fire to flush out the Changeling, which attacked through the Spirit Realm.
• Lin Xu recognized the demon’s divination and used Glazed Fire to burn the array’s visible patterns while protecting the Night Watchers from its spells.
• The Changeling wounded Axing and briefly bewitched another Night Watcher, but Lin Xu disrupted its attacks and destroyed the array’s hidden core node.
• The array’s power failed, revealing the Changeling near the Night Watchers, and Li Yue charged it as blue flames engulfed them both.
• Lin Xu extinguished the magical flames on Li Yue, and the Changeling dissipated in Glazed Fire.
• Li Yue recovered among the fallen and wounded Night Watchers, then asked where Yinyin was.

After Yinyin died, Lin Xu gathered the dead souls and discovered that his territory’s anchoring to Meng City had granted him the ability to observe and attack across the city. He found Chen Hao preparing to enter the Chen Lineage’s Spirit Realm territory and began questioning him about it.

• Yinyin briefly awoke, returned her sapphire necklace to Li Yue, and died; Lin Xu gathered the souls from the sacrificial hall into the Glazed Spirit Lamp.
• The Yellow Dragon egg trembled in a hidden chamber, drawing the attention of a middle-aged man who sensed Lin Xu’s territory anchoring to Meng City.
• Lin Xu killed invading orcs with fire arrows and realized his growing lord authority let him observe Meng City and strike anywhere within it.
• Lin Xu bypassed the Chen Lineage compound’s protective array, found Chen Hao preparing for the Spirit Realm, and hypnotized him.
• Chen Hao revealed that the Chen Lineage had owned its territory for about twenty years, and Lin Xu asked how large and developed it was.

Lin Xu learned that Elder Jiang had discovered the Chen Lineage’s village and that the lineage was tied to the disappearance of Wanqing’s father. As Meng City’s invasion subsided, Lin Xu sent Chen Hao into the Spirit Realm with a beacon while a celestial vision appeared over the battlefield.

• Chen Hao told Lin Xu about his village, its militia, and the dragon-patterned jade pendant his father had given him.
• Old Master Jiang recognized the pendant and explained that it was linked to Spirit Realm ruins and Wanqing’s missing father.
• Elder Jiang revealed that he had discovered the Chen Lineage’s territory and that his failed attempt to seize it had left the Jiang Clan vulnerable to the lineage’s attack.
• Lin Xu used the Wayfinding Compass to create a beacon, gave Chen Hao a Spirit Realm stone, and sent him into the Spirit Realm to plant it.
• A lord in Lei City noticed Meng City’s anchoring but refrained from intervening because of the Lord Covenant.
• Wounded Chen Lingfeng blamed Lin Xu and began planning to frame him, then looked up as palaces appeared in the sky and the battlefield fell silent.

Lin Xu anchored his Spirit Realm territory to Meng City and used Dao soldiers and Yan Jingshu to crush the orc invasion. The Order Source Fire recognized him as a guardian of Central State, and he used its power to resist the orc tribe’s attempt to widen the Spirit Realm passage.

• Lin Xu projected his Daoist temple into Meng City, and his Dao soldiers joined the Night Watchers in killing the orcs.
• Demon-Suppressing Commandant Zhao Dan led four Dao soldiers in formation, and they killed an orc warrior who attacked them with Dou Qi.
• Lin Xu sent Yan Jingshu and the Wedding Procession Ghosts to hunt down orcs hiding in residential buildings.
• Lord projections watched the battle as the Order Source Fire’s fluctuations drew attention to Lin Xu across Central State.
• After the orcs were routed and the passage began to shrink, Lin Xu called on the Order Source Fire’s authority to resist the orc tribe’s attempt to widen it.

Lin Xu used Source Fire to reopen the Spirit Realm passage, allowing the Tiger Sha Demon Army and other forces to invade and defeat a beastman tribe. After capturing its territory, he sensed that it would soon drift near Xuanwei Monastery and planned to claim it as a ranch.

• Lin Xu widened the shrinking Spirit Realm passage with Source Fire, and the black tiger demon led the Tiger Sha Demon Army through it to ambush the beastman shamans and kill the chief.
• The Dao soldiers crossed the passage in formation while the Ghost Bride led the Red-Robed Ghosts into the tribe, and the invaders crushed the beastmen's resistance.
• Lin Xu sensed a Bond linking Xuanwei Monastery to the captured territory and learned that it would drift close to his domain within two days.
• Yan Jingshu sorted the captured beastmen, imprisoning those who resisted and sending the cooperative ones back to work under Dao soldier supervision.

After securing the orc territory and defending Meng City, Lin Xu negotiated with Night Watchers headquarters and prepared to move against Chen Lingfeng and the Chen Lineage. Night Watchers appointed Lin Xu director of the Meng City bureau, while Jiang Shiyan’s demand to take Chen Lingfeng set a deadline before dawn.

• Lin Xu closed the Spirit Realm passage after restoring order in the orc territory, then asked Xia Jingyi how many Pioneer Lords existed in Central State.
• Xia Jingyi told Lin Xu that Jiang Shiyan had ordered Night Watchers headquarters to take Chen Lingfeng and the Chen Lineage away.
• Lin Xu agreed to hand over Chen Lingfeng only in exchange for enticing resources and warned Xia Jingyi that he would attack Chen Lingfeng and the Chen Lineage the next morning.
• Xia Jingyi explained that Meng City would become Lin Xu’s autonomous domain and outlined the rights and obligations he would receive as a Pioneer Lord.
• Lin Xu left the battlefield, and Xia Jingyi announced that headquarters had removed Chen Lingfeng as director and appointed Lin Xu to lead the Meng City Night Watchers Bureau.

Lin Xu discovered that his new authority let him sense his territory from Meng City, draw Spiritual Qi into reality, and open a passage between worlds. He showed the passage to his mother and Jiang Wanqing, then considered how it could serve his territory and its cultivation needs.

• Lin Xu sensed his territory from Meng City, drew Spiritual Qi across the barrier, and opened a Spirit Realm Passage.
• Lin Xu brought Li Yingqiu through the passage and explained that ordinary people in Meng City could enter his territory.
• Jiang Wanqing and Lin Xu's mother saw the passage, met Li Yingqiu, and learned that Lin Xu had become a lord.
• Lin Xu explained that the Spirit Realm Trial remained necessary to preserve balance and allow new Pioneer Lords to emerge.
• Li Yingqiu suggested inviting city residents to help develop Lin Xu's territory, and Lin Xu proposed collecting incense offerings in reality.

Lin Xu organized a faith-based system to develop his territory and used Source Fire to resurrect the people killed in the invasion. He recruited ordinary victims as villagers and transformed Night Watchers into monastery acolytes, outer disciples, and Daoist soldiers.

• Lin Xu told Li Yingqiu to prepare a priesthood and manage incoming adventurers, then ordered Meng Yunxu and his captured companions kept imprisoned.
• Lin Xu sent the souls of hundreds of people killed in the invasion through the Spirit Realm passage and recruited them as villagers, reuniting many with their families.
• Lin Xu spent Source Fire to transform more than eighty Night Watchers into Daoist acolytes of Xuanwei Monastery.
• Lin Xu resurrected five Night Watcher elites as two outer disciples and three level-four Daoist soldiers, then turned his attention to a brilliant soul he had saved.

Lin Xu revived Yinyin as a hero and discovered that her divine talent could help establish a faith among his followers. After comforting her and discussing the territory with Jiang Wanqing, he resolved to deepen his Bond with Meng City by taking control of the Night Watchers.

• Lin Xu used Source Fire to restore Yinyin as Xu Yinyin, a hero with the Divinely Inspired One talent and the ability to baptize believers into priests.
• Yinyin mourned her dead parents, and Lin Xu comforted her; her faith in him quickly reached the level of a devout believer.
• Lin Xu decided to establish a church organization in his territory and ordered Li Yingqiu to plan how to use the Night Watchers.
• Jiang Wanqing asked to visit Lin Xu's territory and help develop it, and Lin Xu agreed to bring her and Mother Lin there in a few days.
• Lin Xu sensed that anchoring Meng City provided a steady supply of Source Fire and resolved to deepen his Bond with the city by taking control of the Night Watchers.

Chen Lingfeng was ordered by Lord Jiang’s steward to plant a location beacon in Lin Xu’s Spirit Realm territory, but he secretly redirected his son to bring back another object he believed could help him become a true lord. Meanwhile, Lin Xu removed Chen Lingfeng from his post and ordered a citywide search for the traitor and the Wheel of Fate.

• A steward reprimanded Chen Lingfeng for failing to notice Lin Xu’s rise to Pioneer Lord and ordered him to plant a location beacon in Lin Xu’s Spirit Realm territory.
• Chen Lingfeng learned that Lord Jiang’s influence had enabled the Chen Lineage’s power in Meng City and realized that refusing the order could cost him his life.
• Chen Lingfeng called his son Jiale and persuaded him to bring back an object by promising to recognize him as his eldest son and move his mother’s ashes to the Chen ancestral graveyard.
• A watcher in the shadows listened to Chen Lingfeng’s call and withdrew, remarking that a storm was brewing.
• At the Night Watchers’ meeting, Lin Xu announced Chen Lingfeng’s removal and investigation, ordered all personnel investigated, and placed Meng City on the highest level of combat readiness.
• Lin Xu ordered the Night Watchers to search the city and destroy the Wheel of Fate’s remaining strongholds and cultists.

Lin Xu consolidated his influence over the Night Watchers in Meng City by promising more Spirit Realm trade goods, then received an apology gift from the Jiang Lineage. He studied the rare items, especially a Zombie Mine dungeon scroll, and asked Xia Jingyi about acquiring valuable class inheritances.

• Lin Xu doubled the supply of spirit rice at the Spirit Realm trade market, winning enthusiastic support from the department heads.
• Xia Jingyi told Lin Xu that he had gained preliminary control of the Night Watchers in Meng City.
• Xia Jingyi presented the Jiang Lineage's apology gift, including five targeted summoning scrolls, a Zombie Mine scroll, and a Treasure-Gathering Basin.
• Xia Jingyi explained that the Zombie Mine released monsters, had a low skill-book drop rate, and could remain for at most two weeks through Bonds.
• Lin Xu asked whether the country sold class inheritances, and Xia Jingyi explained that complete, high-potential inheritances were extremely rare.

Lin Xu learned how the state’s career-legacies and resource-trading systems worked, including their steep prices and monthly points limits. He decided to use the national channel only for urgent needs and rely on Meng City’s local Spirit Realm market for ordinary supplies.

• Lin Xu asked Xia Jingyi how to obtain more career legacies, and she quoted a price of a hundred tons of cyan-grade spirit rice for a basic career.
• Xia Jingyi showed Lin Xu the career tree on a spirit-rune computer, which listed combat and livelihood careers, and explained the differences between career legacies, NPC artisans, and career trainers.
• Lin Xu learned that the Night Watchers managed Spirit Realm adventurers and national trade markets, and that NPCs gained sentience after being recruited and transformed by Source Fire.
• Xia Jingyi explained that the Lord Covenant gave a level-one Pioneer Lord 100 points per month for purchases, so Lin Xu concluded the national channel was best reserved for urgent needs.
• Lin Xu asked about taxes, and Xia Jingyi explained that lords exchanged Spirit Realm resources equivalent to their taxes, while the state returned value through tax refunds and other means.

Lin Xu negotiated Meng City's Spirit Realm access policy with Xia Jingyi, then brought Jiang Wanqing, Mother Lin, and Elder Jiang to see Xuanwei Monastery. The monastery and orc territory had drawn within five li, weakening their Bond, and Lin Xu took his guests into the sky to show them the grounds.

• Lin Xu discussed the city's tax arrangement and asked Xia Jingyi for advice about opening a Spirit Realm Passage; she urged him to protect humanity's chances of producing new lords and follow the state agreement.
• Lin Xu gave Xia Jingyi his proposal for the Lamp-Lighting Kindling Flame Dao, which she approved on the condition that it remain within Meng City.
• Lin Xu asked to buy spirit jade, and Xia Jingyi advised him to station a liaison at Night Watchers headquarters; he said Wanqing would handle it.
• At Xuanwei Monastery, Lin Xu sensed that the Bond with the orc ranch was weakening as the territories drew within five li.
• Lin Xu showed Jiang Wanqing, Mother Lin, and Elder Jiang around the monastery, and Elder Jiang said its recruitment building could help Lin Xu become a great lord.
• Lin Xu raised the group on a bank of clouds to give them a view from the sky.