Recaps

Li Yelan explained that a coming Fire Virtue Golden Core True Lord would boost Fire Virtue’s influence and create new opportunities throughout the megacorporation. She told Lü Yuan that imitating the True Lord’s image of “struggle” could accelerate his cultivation, leaving him amazed by how much the Immortal Book had anticipated.

• Li Yelan described how the coming Golden Core True Lord would strengthen Fire Virtue and lead to a new Upper City and branch company.
• Lü Yuan reasoned that Fire Virtue cultivators would gain more jobs and promotion opportunities, making his own lineage and Spirit Root valuable.
• Lü Yuan wondered why Li Yelan had such high hopes for him despite his apparent cultivation speed.
• Li Yelan revealed that imitating a True Lord’s lineage intent could rapidly increase cultivation speed and said the coming True Lord’s essential image was “struggle.”
• Li Yelan told Lü Yuan that winning contests throughout his schooling could greatly improve his chances of entering an Upper City branch company, then lied about why she had sought him out.
• Lü Yuan privately marveled at how far the Immortal Book had seen ahead.

Punk Lü Yuan recounted his strange encounter with Li Yelan to Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan, who doubted that a Purple Mansion Great True Person had treated him so familiarly. After they stopped bickering, Punk Lü Yuan proposed three explanations for her behavior and ended with the name “Tiansuzi.”

• Punk Lü Yuan told Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan about his encounter with Li Yelan and the Immortal Book’s guidance.
• Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan questioned whether Li Yelan had really teased Punk Lü Yuan, and they tussled over his doubts about Punk Lü Yuan’s charm.
• Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan urged Punk Lü Yuan to seriously consider why Li Yelan had acted so unusually.
• Punk Lü Yuan suggested that Li Yelan might be related to him by blood, connected to his biological parents, or linked to Tiansuzi.

Punk Lü Yuan speculated that Li Yelan had foreseen a future in which she fell in love with him, explaining her unusual attention and the Immortal Book’s behavior. Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan accepted the possibility and revealed he was nearing Great Marsh Mountain and might enter Qi Refinement soon.

• Punk Lü Yuan argued that Li Yelan could see the future and that her strange behavior suggested she had become deeply involved with him in a foreseen future.
• Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan questioned why Li Yelan would value Punk Lü Yuan so highly in that future, given his limited standing and lack of Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan’s help.
• Punk Lü Yuan said he would have pursued Li Yelan and that she had fallen in love with him in the deduction.
• Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan accepted the theory, suggested Punk Lü Yuan gather more evidence, and went back to cultivating.
• Punk Lü Yuan asked about Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan’s situation, and Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan said he was near Great Marsh Mountain at the First Realm of Embryonic Breathing and might enter Qi Refinement the next day.

At Great Marsh Mountain, Lü Yuan prepared to enter Qi Refinement as the sun and moon shone together. He began his breakthrough using the Great Yin Moonlight and Sun Purple Qi Liu Bang had provided.

• Lü Yuan waited on the mountain summit for the dawn moment Liu Bang had recommended for his breakthrough.
• Lü Yuan considered which cultivation lineage the Immortal Book might recommend after he entered Qi Refinement.
• Lü Yuan recalled that Liu Bang had advised him to use Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and had prepared two strands for him.
• As the sun and moon shone together, Lü Yuan summoned Fusang, which had grown into a high-grade Qi Refinement Law Artifact.
• Lü Yuan guided the Great Yin Moonlight and Sun Purple Qi into his Qi sea and began his breakthrough.

Lü Yuan smoothly broke through to Qi Refinement by drawing on both Great Yin Moonlight and Sun Purple Qi, completing the first stage of his cultivation. His simultaneous resonance with Great Yin and Sun stirred forces across the world, drawing the attention of King Zheng of Qin and causing a girl in the Lü clan to faint.

• Lü Yuan absorbed Great Yin Moonlight and Sun Purple Qi, which expanded his Qi sea and stabilized his Embryonic Breath without pain.
• Lü Yuan refined portions of both spiritual energies as he crossed into Qi Refinement.
• King Zheng of Qin sensed the Second Sun stir and wondered whether Liu Bang had acted through his Residual Position.
• A nine-year-old girl in the Lü clan suddenly fainted, while a companion star beside the moon glimmered in response to the sun.

After Lü Yuan’s breakthrough to Qi Refinement stirred [Red Emperor] and [Wangshu], powerful figures across the world reacted to the celestial disturbance. Lü Yuan was left puzzling over the technique bestowed by the Immortal Book, which turned out to be [Northern Dipper].

• Lü Zhi awoke with memories of her past life and suspected Liu Ji had secretly arranged something involving her and [Wangshu].
• Dao lineage True Lords, Buddhist figures, and other powers noticed the strange behavior of the “Second Sun,” while the First Manifest Under Heaven and Fourth Devil Ancestor responded in their own ways.
• On Great Marsh Mountain, the King of Chen agreed to shelter Liu Bang’s Han State disaster victims because they were human and still alive.
• Liu Bang realized Lü Yuan had stirred [Red Emperor] and [Wangshu] without help from either parent and considered how valuable his son might become.
• After breaking through to Qi Refinement, Lü Yuan found that the Immortal Book had bestowed a [Northern Dipper] technique and wondered why.

Liu Bang explained that he had led the refugees through the Dharma Realm to avoid settlements and unwanted attention, then found Lü Yuan troubled after his breakthrough to Qi Refinement. Lü Yuan revealed that the Immortal Book had given him a seventh-grade Northern Dipper Cultivation Method, leaving Liu Bang bewildered.

• Liu Bang had guided the refugees through the Dharma Realm for three months and brought them back near Great Marsh Mountain, where they would soon settle.
• Liu Bang found Lü Yuan pondering on a mountaintop after breaking through to Qi Refinement and asked what troubled him.
• Lü Yuan considered how to explain the source of his new Cultivation Method, then decided to tell Liu Bang the truth.
• Lü Yuan said the blessings from the person who had saved him included a Northern Dipper Cultivation Method that appeared after his breakthrough.
• Liu Bang, who had expected Lü Yuan to discuss the Southern Dipper, was left confused by the Northern Dipper revelation.

Lü Yuan told Liu Bang that the great figure’s favor was a seventh-grade Northern Dipper Immortal Method, prompting Liu Bang to fear the lineage’s dangers and urge him to cultivate the Sun instead. After learning the method cultivated Turning the Dipper Handle, Liu Bang reconsidered and left to verify it at Great Marsh Mountain, while Lü Yuan decided he would cultivate it if Liu Bang confirmed it was safe.

• Lü Yuan revealed that the favor was a Northern Dipper Cultivation Method, and Liu Bang reacted with alarm at the declining lineage and its risks.
• Liu Bang angrily warned Lü Yuan not to cultivate the Northern Dipper and told him to follow the Sun lineage instead.
• Lü Yuan said the method was seventh grade, but Liu Bang still urged him to avoid the Northern Dipper until he learned its Immortal Foundation and Divine Ability.
• Lü Yuan named Turning the Dipper Handle, causing Liu Bang to soften and say that this particular Immortal Method might be acceptable.
• Liu Bang left to verify the method with someone at Great Marsh Mountain and told Lü Yuan to wait before cultivating it.
• Lü Yuan reviewed the Immortal Method and decided he would cultivate the Northern Dipper if Liu Bang confirmed there was no problem.

Lü Yuan studied the seventh-grade Immortal Method, “Riding the Emperor's Chariot to Observe the Celestial Order of the Northern Pole,” and discovered how its Northern Dipper Righteous Qi could advance his Sword Dao with each cultivation breakthrough. The method’s Immortal Foundation could also reproduce another foundation’s wonders and create a provisional slot, leaving Lü Yuan able to envision reaching the Purple Mansion with two Divine Abilities and cultivating six in total.

• Lü Yuan struggled to understand the preface’s unfamiliar names and wondered whether Liu Bang had left before telling him the method’s name.
• Lü Yuan learned that Northern Dipper Righteous Qi could raise his Sword Dao realm once at each breakthrough, potentially advancing it from Sword Essence to Sword Intent at Foundation Establishment.
• Lü Yuan read that the “Turning the Dipper Handle” Immortal Foundation could reproduce the wonders of another Dao lineage’s Immortal Foundation if its master controlled it well.
• Lü Yuan discovered that “Turning the Dipper Handle” could create a provisional Immortal Foundation slot, allowing its master to cultivate two Immortal Foundations at Foundation Establishment.
• Lü Yuan realized that combining “Turning the Dipper Handle” with Southern Dipper Life Breath could let him advance to the Purple Mansion with two Divine Abilities and cultivate six Divine Abilities in all.

Lü Yuan learned more about the power of the Northern Dipper Immortal Method and wondered whether Liu Bang had gone to meet the legendary Two Gods of Marsh and Xun. In Swan Heaven, Liu Bang revealed that a phenomenon had been caused by his child and asked the two ancient gods for help investigating ancient records.

• Lü Yuan marveled at the Northern Dipper Immortal Method but decided to wait for Liu Bang at Great Marsh Mountain before cultivating its immortal foundation.
• Lü Yuan suspected that Liu Bang had gone to consult the Two Gods of Marsh and Xun.
• Liu Bang met the two True Lords in Swan Heaven, where they questioned why he had come and what he had done during the earlier phenomenon.
• Liu Bang said the phenomenon had appeared because of his child and that he needed records in the Rise and Fall Pavilion of the Purple Forbidden Enclosure.
• Liu Bang asked one of the Two Gods of Marsh and Xun to look after his child while the other accompanied him to the pavilion.

Punk Lü Yuan reeled at the disparity between his own cultivation and Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan’s, especially because he could not practice the powerful Immortal Methods they shared. He then examined Li Yelan’s public history, concluded it concealed her Upper City origins, and left for class with new questions about her background and reassignment.

• Punk Lü Yuan reacted with disbelief after Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan told him about his breakthrough to Qi Refinement and his extraordinary Immortal Method and Immortal Foundation.
• Punk Lü Yuan lamented that his world prevented him from cultivating the Immortal Methods, while megacorporations controlled access to cultivation and charged royalties for usable techniques.
• Punk Lü Yuan reviewed the public information he had gathered about Li Yelan, including her reported rise from a Lower City orphanage to a Purple Mansion position.
• Punk Lü Yuan concluded that Li Yelan’s reported Lower City origins were false because the timeline and cultivation technology made her supposed progress impossible.
• Punk Lü Yuan wondered whether Li Yelan’s concealed Upper City background was connected to her being Tiansuzi or to her reassignment, then prepared to go to class.

Lü Yuan used his new million-voucher loan limit to justify his rapid cultivation as the result of expensive drugs, then announced the explanation openly at school. The chapter ended with him pulling out the full, costly Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin package in front of his stunned classmates.

• Lü Yuan checked that Radiant Heavenly Sun had raised his loan limit to one million Spirit Stone Vouchers after he met Li Yelan.
• Lü Yuan arrived late to class, while Sima Mingli wondered how he cultivated three times faster despite spending far less time at school.
• Lin Qi scolded Lü Yuan for wasting his talent, and Lü Yuan told the class that he cultivated quickly because he took so many drugs he had to rest every day.
• Lü Yuan pulled out all nine syringes in the expensive Fetal Breathing Stage Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin package and prepared to take them openly.

Lü Yuan showed off his Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin medicine, then revealed to Lin Qi that his monthly loan limit had reached one million. He planned to take Lin Qi and Wang Yan to a lucrative part-time job in the Dark Air Realm after they skipped class.

• Lü Yuan’s classmates gaped at his Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin package, while Sima Mingli eagerly hoped to benefit from sparring with him.
• Lin Qi took Lü Yuan to the fitness equipment room and injected him with the medicine, warning him about overspending and offering to absorb any medicinal power he could not use.
• Lü Yuan promised to save half the medicine’s effects for Lin Qi, but she urged him to focus on advancing his cultivation instead.
• Lü Yuan showed Lin Qi his one-million monthly loan limit, prompting her to beg him for money and offer to warm his bed.
• Lü Yuan told Lin Qi to contact Wang Yan and said he would take them both to a lucrative part-time job in the Dark Air Realm that afternoon.

Lü Yuan recruited Wang Yan and Lin Qi to sell pure air in the Dark Air Realm, promising them a share of the profits and a better income than their usual part-time jobs. Wang Yan accepted after Lü Yuan revealed his one-million Spirit Stone Voucher loan limit, and the three set out to enter the market.

• Wang Yan traveled to meet Lü Yuan and Lin Qi, discussing with Elder Hun whether he should tell Lü Yuan about his progress in refining artifacts and pills.
• Wang Yan told Lü Yuan that his refining work had already helped him balance his expenses, and Lü Yuan praised his improvement.
• Lü Yuan offered to supply pure air for Wang Yan and Lin Qi to sell, promising them half the profits and asking Wang Yan to quit his other part-time jobs.
• Wang Yan hesitated to accept the offer because he did not want to burden Lü Yuan, but Lü Yuan showed him his one-million loan limit.
• Wang Yan accepted the job, and the three set out to break into the Dark Air Realm market.

Lü Yuan brought Lin Qi and Wang Yan to the Dark Corner and told them to buy tickets to the Dark Air Realm while he went to get spirit oranges. When they tried to buy the tickets without him, the ticket seller asked for an air trading license and ordered security to throw them out.

• Lü Yuan explained that Mingyang City's Dark Corner was a company-supported collection of black markets.
• Lü Yuan told Lin Qi and Wang Yan to buy three Dark Air Realm tickets and wait for him, then went to buy spirit oranges.
• Lin Qi and Wang Yan decided to buy the tickets themselves after wondering why Lü Yuan had laughed.
• The ticket seller asked Wang Yan for an air trading license after he requested three tickets.
• The ticket seller told a security guard to throw Lin Qi and Wang Yan out.

Lin Qi and Wang Yan failed to buy tickets to the Dark Air Realm because they lacked the required qualification certificates, so Lü Yuan took them back and secured entry using his name and status. He then led them to meet the Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator in charge of the realm, whose eager welcome made his deference to Lü Yuan unmistakable.

• Wang Yan offered the ticket seller Spirit Stone Vouchers, and the seller explained that students needed a fifth- or sixth-year class head with a qualification certificate to act as an intermediary.
• Lin Qi and Wang Yan left the ticket office and found Lü Yuan waiting outside, where they clung to him and admitted they had been wrong.
• Lü Yuan returned with them, gave his name, and the ticket seller recognized him while the two security guards slipped away.
• The ticket seller stamped three tickets and guided Lü Yuan, Lin Qi, and Wang Yan toward the Dark Air Realm passage.
• Lü Yuan asked the ticket seller to take them to the person in charge, and they reached the Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator in the dungeon.
• Lin Qi and Wang Yan noticed how warmly the cultivator treated Lü Yuan and wondered if he was eager to curry favor.

Lü Yuan brought Lin Qi and Wang Yan to meet Gu Lü, a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator, partly to test whether his suspicions about Radiant Heavenly Sun were correct. Gu Lü’s nervous deference confirmed that someone powerful had ordered him to accommodate Lü Yuan, and the group continued toward a shop location in the Dark Air Realm.

• Lü Yuan decided to use the meeting to assess Lin Qi and Wang Yan’s trust and look for evidence about Radiant Heavenly Sun’s identity.
• Lü Yuan asked Gu Lü to help him rent a medium-sized shop on the Dark Air Realm’s best street.
• Gu Lü recognized Lü Yuan as the student named in an order from management, which had relayed instructions from a higher authority to grant his requests.
• Gu Lü privately suspected that the order had come from the ruler of Mingyang City and wondered why Lü Yuan had earned such special attention.
• Lü Yuan noticed Gu Lü’s panic, kept his suspicions to himself, and followed him with Lin Qi and Wang Yan toward the proposed shop location.

Lü Yuan opened his air shop with Lin Qi and Wang Yan, and its exceptionally pure stock sold out in two hours. Afterward, Lin Qi revealed she could help Lü Yuan advance his sword Dao and kissed him in the dark shop.

• Lü Yuan leased Shop No. 12 and obtained permits for Lin Qi and Wang Yan to work there.
• Gu Lü inspected Lü Yuan’s air, judged it nearly as pure as the highest-grade air, and granted it the highest-grade price and his endorsement.
• Lü Yuan, Lin Qi, and Wang Yan opened the shop that night, and eager customers bought all their stock within two hours.
• Lin Qi pulled Lü Yuan into the dark shop and told him she could help him advance beyond Sword Light.
• Lin Qi rose onto her tiptoes and kissed Lü Yuan.

Lin Qi remembered her grandfather’s stories about his nearly three-thousand-year life, his missing master, and the Jade Dragon Instruction’s founding. Before she returned to the Upper City, he entrusted her with the Jade Gui, which became her fate, “Daily Progress, Mastery of Techniques.”

• As a child, Lin Qi repeatedly asked Grandpa how he had lived for almost three thousand years and whether his master had been a Golden Core True Lord.
• Grandpa explained that his master had protected him from a calamity that shortened the lives of Purple Mansion True Persons, and revealed that his master’s Daoist name inspired the Jade Dragon Instruction’s name and that he was one of its founders.
• Grandpa told Lin Qi that his master had disappeared and that the later True Lords had seized control of the megacorporation, leaving Grandpa and his family to suffer their bullying.
• Before Lin Qi returned to the Upper City, Grandpa gave her the Jade Gui, a divine object once bestowed by his master, and it joined with her Primordial Spirit as the fate “Daily Progress, Mastery of Techniques.”

Lin Qi gave Lü Yuan the cultivation power she had accumulated, explaining that it could raise his sword realm and was payment for his help. Lü Yuan then proposed splitting the source of the power as shared marital property, leaving Lin Qi embarrassed and unsure whether he was trying to disguise what had just happened.

• Lin Qi passed her accumulated cultivation power to Lü Yuan and said it could raise his Sword Light to the Sword-Ray level.
• Lü Yuan confirmed that the power had no side effects but refrained from asking Lin Qi where it came from.
• Lin Qi told Lü Yuan there was no more power for now and said he would need to treat her better if he wanted another share.
• Lü Yuan embraced Lin Qi and proposed borrowing against their future marriage, then splitting the source of her cultivation power in exchange for a five-hundred-thousand interest-free loan.
• Lin Qi blushed at Lü Yuan's proposal and wondered whether he was using it to gloss over what had just happened.

Wang Yan asked Elder Hun for permission to give Lü Yuan a visualization image, and Elder Hun agreed after warning him about the risks of testing a friendship. Wang Yan found Lü Yuan alone after Lin Qi left, then stopped him to offer the gift.

• Wang Yan asked Elder Hun to let him give Lü Yuan the visualization image, but Elder Hun warned that repeated gifts could make Lü Yuan suspicious and damage their friendship.
• Wang Yan insisted that he trusted Lü Yuan, and Elder Hun agreed to let him give Lü Yuan “Back Then, Listening to Scriptures in Changrong Heaven,” while recalling a painful event from his past.
• Wang Yan wondered how quickly Lü Yuan would use the image to develop Divine Sense, then noticed Lin Qi was no longer waiting beside Lü Yuan.
• Lü Yuan said Lin Qi had left because something had come up, though he did not know what it was.
• As Lü Yuan began to lead the way, Wang Yan caught him and said he had something for him.

Lü Yuan met Wang Yan alone, expecting a gift, and learned that the painting Wang Yan gave him was a powerful visualization diagram. He accepted Wang Yan’s secret without pressing him and asked to lend the diagram to Lin Qi, leaving Wang Yan and Elder Hun quietly pleased by his response.

• Lü Yuan met Wang Yan after deliberately sending Lin Qi away, and Wang Yan gave him a rolled-up painting.
• Wang Yan revealed that the painting was the visualization diagram “Listening to the Sutras in Changrong Heaven Back Then,” which could help Lü Yuan develop Divine Sense early and strengthen it over time.
• Wang Yan explained that he had used the diagram to develop Divine Sense and could now refine Embryonic Breathing Law Artifacts.
• Lü Yuan accepted Wang Yan’s gift without asking about his fortuitous encounter and said friends did not need to uncover every secret.
• Lü Yuan asked to lend the diagram to Lin Qi and hurried Wang Yan toward the bus stop; Wang Yan and Elder Hun smiled as they followed him.

Lü Yuan admired Mingyang City’s beauty and reflected on how his recent happiness had let him notice it. He anticipated a demanding run of competitions and resolved to use the month before the next tournament to improve, while continuing to cultivate Lin Qi and Wang Yan’s trust for mutual benefit.

• Lü Yuan walked home through Mingyang City and realized he could appreciate its beauty now that the pressure of survival had eased.
• Lü Yuan recalled Li Yelan’s demand that he win every fight before junior college and considered the many competitions ahead.
• Lü Yuan read trending notices about upcoming tournaments in Mingyang City, Jiugang City, and Zaiwu City.
• Lü Yuan concluded that his rapid progress would place him against older students, so he could not afford to neglect his cultivation.
• Lü Yuan reflected that he had not asked Lin Qi or Wang Yan about their opportunities because he expected them to keep investing in him and eventually reveal them themselves.

Li Yelan’s recurring pain and madness drove her to Lü Yuan’s home, where her prosthetic body clung to him and found temporary relief. As she regained some control, she remained troubled by why Lü Yuan could help her even at this point in his life.

• Lü Yuan returned home and found Lin Qi unconscious before Li Yelan’s prosthetic body immobilized him with the Immortal Book’s help.
• Li Yelan held Lü Yuan close and repeatedly murmured that it was too unfair, while Lü Yuan wondered what had happened to her.
• Aboard the aerospace carrier, Li Yelan’s true body suffered the recurring pain and madness that afflicted Bright Yang Children after Bright Yang fell.
• Li Yelan sent her prosthetic body to Lü Yuan because, in her deductions, being held by him had brought her brief peace.
• Li Yelan’s consciousness returned as Lü Yuan’s presence eased her pain, and she wondered why he could help her now.

After accidentally easing Li Yelan’s pain, Lü Yuan became the focus of her plans to make amends, and she considered giving him an Artificial Spirit Root. Lü Yuan reflected on the night’s disruptions, then met Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan in the consciousness space, where they discussed their recent experiences and examined the Immortal Book.

• After Lü Yuan eased her suffering, Li Yelan’s original body emerged from the sea of light and regretted causing him trouble.
• Li Yelan considered gifts for Lü Yuan and settled on an Artificial Spirit Root, while debating when and how to give it to him.
• Awake beneath Li Yelan’s sleeping prosthetic body, Lü Yuan wondered why he could ease her pain and set aside his disrupted plans.
• Lü Yuan entered the consciousness space and recounted the day’s events to Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan.
• Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan joked that Lü Yuan was living through Mingyang Love Story, then handed him the Immortal Book to investigate the two things he had received.