Chapter Summaries

Chen Ning accepted the Poison Venerable’s challenge to settle the young Heaven-Praying Hall master’s release with a disciple contest. Jun Wuya volunteered to fight Aofeng, and the chapter ended as the two prepared to face off.

• The Poison Venerable demanded the young hall master’s release, but Chen Ning refused and asked for three mid-grade Spirit Artifacts and five thousand high-grade Origin Stones.
• The Poison Venerable proposed a disciple contest, wagering six mid-grade Spirit Artifacts and ten thousand high-grade Origin Stones if his disciple lost, while Chen Ning would release the captive if the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s disciple lost.
• Chen Ning accepted the contest and initially planned to send Ling Xiaoxiao, but Jun Wuya volunteered instead.
• Chen Ning sent Jun Wuya four sentences by voice transmission, and Jun Wuya thanked him for trusting him with the fight.
• Aofeng saw that Jun Wuya was at the Eighth Heaven of the Spirit Martial Realm, declared he would not last five moves, and prepared to fight.

Jun Wuya faced Aofeng in a duel and defeated him with a single move after Chen Ning supplied him with a poem that strengthened his Literary Dao. Aofeng’s pride and Dao heart were shattered, while the Poison Venerable was left stunned by the loss of his wager.

• Aofeng mocked Jun Wuya and challenged him to prove his boast that one move would crush his arrogance.
• Aofeng used Blessing and attacked Jun Wuya, but the Literary Saint Phantom blocked his strikes.
• Aofeng invoked the Heaven-Praying Hall’s forbidden technique to seal Jun Wuya’s defeat, despite the cost to his foundation.
• Jun Wuya recited a poem Chen Ning had transmitted to him, strengthening his Literary Dao and overwhelming Aofeng’s technique.
• The Literary Saint Phantom crushed Aofeng with a single flick of its finger, damaging his Dao heart and shattering his pride.
• Jun Wuya reported his victory to Chen Ning, while the Poison Venerable stood stunned over his lost wager.

The Poison Venerable tried to use a poison array to force the Dragon-Seeking Sect to release Aofeng, but Chen Ning revealed a superior Poison Dao realm and refined the poisonous fog. The Poison Venerable was left badly shaken as Chen Ning invited him to resume their ransom discussion.

• The Poison Venerable told the Heaven-Praying Hall master that Aofeng had been detained and the ransom demanded, then received orders to activate the poison array to force his release.
• Poisonous fog spread through the Peach Blossom Spring Mountain Range, poisoning Spirit Plants and trapping or injuring Dragon-Seeking Sect disciples.
• Chen Ning went outside and revealed a Mahayana-level Poison Dao realm, astonishing the Poison Venerable and the sect members.
• Chen Ning refined the poisonous fog into Poison Dao power and struck at the Poison Venerable's origin.
• Chen Ning, bleeding from the mouth, turned to the Poison Venerable and offered to continue discussing Aofeng's ransom.

Chen Ning forced the Heaven-Praying Hall to pay six Mid-Grade Spirit Artifacts and Origin Stones to free Long Aoshi, while the hall master privately resolved to reclaim the artifacts. Chen Ning stayed overnight on Verdant Peak with Cang Yue, hoping her influence would help deter the hidden grand elder.

• The Poison Venerable contacted the Heaven-Praying Hall's hall master after Chen Ning dispelled his poison formation, and the hall master ordered him to accept Chen Ning's demands to rescue Long Aoshi.
• An envoy delivered six Mid-Grade Spirit Artifacts and chests of high-grade Origin Stones, and Chen Ning released Long Aoshi and the other captives.
• Long Aoshi demanded revenge, but the Poison Venerable slapped him and left the Dragon-Seeking Sect with Long Aoshi and Aofeng.
• The Heaven-Praying Hall's deputies and elders challenged the hall master's decision to surrender the artifacts, and he said he intended to make the Dragon-Seeking Sect return them.
• Chen Ning stayed overnight on Verdant Peak while Cang Yue counted the artifacts and arranged desserts, and he hoped to use her influence to make the grand elder wary.

Chen Ning spent the night with Cang Yue, who explained that super sects usually settled disputes without all-out war, while they both fell asleep feeling the Essence-Infusing Ancient Jade’s power. Elsewhere, a mysterious effeminate man offered injured Dragon-Seeking Sect disciple Lü Qingqing a way to restore her looks and make her more beautiful than before.

• Cang Yue warned Chen Ning that the Heaven-Praying Hall might retaliate, and explained that super sects usually avoided fighting to the death.
• Cang Yue wore the Essence-Infusing Ancient Jade against her skin and shared its meridian-nourishing power with Chen Ning as they slept beside each other.
• Several Dragon-Seeking Sect disciples stopped in Gold and Iron City, where Lü Qingqing worried that a spirit beast’s scratches would leave her with a permanent scar.
• An effeminate man approached the disciples and offered to restore Lü Qingqing’s looks and make her more beautiful than before.

Venerable Mei used the alias Cheng Renmei to attract Dragon-Seeking Sect disciples with his Beautification Technique, drawing them into debts and seeking information about the sect. Most outer disciples refused to betray the sect, so he planned to wait for debts to grow and find other ways to use his customers.

• Venerable Mei healed Lü Qingqing’s wound and made her more beautiful, then asked her to recommend him to other disciples.
• Lü Qingqing and the other female disciples promised to send customers, including men, to Cheng Renmei in exchange for beautification.
• Over three days, Cheng Renmei’s lodgings filled with disciples who paid in Origin Stones or signed IOUs, with unpaid debts set to double.
• Senior Brother Yang refused to trade sect intelligence for free beautification, while a Registered Disciple left resentful of Yang’s loyalty and status.
• Venerable Mei reviewed the IOUs and planned to wait for debts to grow before seeking useful information or tasks from the disciples.

Venerable Mei used a beauty service and debt scheme to infiltrate the Dragon-Seeking Sect and gather leverage against it. After Xiao Yuan exposed the scheme, Chen Ning chose to turn Mei’s methods against him and began setting a counterplan in motion.

• Venerable Mei ordered Qingyan to double the prices and recruit more Dragon-Seeking Sect disciples while gathering information about the sect.
• Xiao Yuan told Chen Ning that Cheng Renmei was offering disciples beautification on credit in exchange for referrals and sect information.
• Chen Ning realized that Cheng Renmei was working for the Heaven-Praying Hall and that the debt scheme was meant to control disciples and pressure the sect’s leaders.
• The system offered Chen Ning three responses, and he chose to turn Venerable Mei’s methods against him for the lavish epic-tier rewards.
• Chen Ning whispered his plan to Xiao Yuan, who understood that the Heaven-Praying Hall’s scheme could backfire on them.

Chen Ning’s Pin Heihei marketplace drew Heaven-Praying Hall disciples in with valuable prizes and a price-slashing scheme. As the disciples recruited others to claim their rewards, the Black Dragon Clan maintained security at the stop.

• A Heaven-Praying Hall male disciple showed a first-grade Protective Talisman to his junior sister and explained that he had won it from the Pin Heihei merchant.
• The male disciple told his junior sister that he still needed help slashing the price to claim a second-grade pill, and she agreed to join him.
• At the marketplace, Xiao Yuan explained the price-slashing rules to Heaven-Praying Hall disciples while Lin Xiaotian guarded the operation and Xiao Mei watched from the shadows.
• Xiao Yuan persuaded a disciple frustrated by the final one percent to recruit fresh participants, explaining that most of his helpers had already entered the draw.

Bai Tianyu reached the Heaven-Reaching Tower’s thirty-fifth floor, but the disciples ignored his achievement as word spread about the mysterious merchants from Pin Heihei and their valuable prizes. After learning that others had obtained a grade-two pill and a super-grade-one talisman, Bai Tianyu hid his own grade-three pill and hurried after the crowd.

• Bai Tianyu entered the Heaven-Reaching Tower, aiming to match Aofeng’s record on the thirty-fifth floor.
• An outer hall disciple recruited inner hall disciples by telling them about Pin Heihei’s price-slashing drawing and its valuable rewards.
• Several disciples returned with a grade-two Wall-Breaking Pill and a super-grade-one talisman, convincing more people to seek out the merchants.
• Bai Tianyu reached the thirty-fifth floor, but the disciples left for Pin Heihei instead of celebrating him.
• Bai Tianyu learned about the prizes, concealed the grade-three pill he had earned, and raced after the others.

Xiao Yuan drew the Heaven-Praying Hall disciples into a prize-drawing scheme and offered the Pot of Baseness as a shortcut to claiming their prizes. Bai Tianyu began revealing a secret about harm done to innocents, leaving Xiao Yuan poised to learn more.

• Xiao Yuan struggled to answer the crowd's questions as Heaven-Praying Hall disciples gathered to draw prizes and recruit helpers.
• Bai Tianyu drew a first-grade pill and regretted not joining the scheme sooner.
• Xiao Yuan introduced the Pot of Baseness, promising a hundredfold boost to anyone who shared a base deed.
• An inner hall elder considered using force but backed down when Lin Xiaotian's murderous intent revealed that a Martial Venerable was guarding the merchants.
• Bai Tianyu admitted he had befriended someone to curry favor with the seventh elder, but Xiao Yuan said the deed was not base enough.
• Bai Tianyu offered to reveal a Heaven-Praying Hall secret involving harm to innocents, and Xiao Yuan agreed to listen.

Xiao Yuan used the Pot of Baseness to collect shameful secrets from Heaven-Praying Hall members in exchange for progress toward prizes. At sunset, the merchants disappeared, leaving the participants to realize they had been tricked, but they chose not to pursue the matter because their own confessions could expose them.

• Bai Tianyu confessed that the Heaven-Praying Hall had slaughtered White Frost City to seize a Mid-Grade Spirit Artifact, then framed the Devil Race, and his assistance progress rose a hundredfold.
• An inner hall elder confessed that he had changed his appearance after committing a serious crime, then secretly murdered two elders who had offended him, and his prize-drawing progress rose a hundredfold.
• More Heaven-Praying Hall members shared secrets with the Pot of Baseness, while Xiao Yuan noted that it recorded both sound and images.
• At sunset, the participants discovered that their assistance progress had stalled near completion and their first-grade prizes had expired.
• The inner hall elder realized that the Pin Heihei merchants had fled, and Bai Tianyu explained that they likely used powerful escape talismans.
• Bai Tianyu, Elder Yu, and the other participants decided to act as though nothing had happened rather than risk their confessions becoming known.

After the Dragon-Seeking Sect exposed the Heaven-Praying Hall’s secrets, Chen Ning confronted Venerable Mei in Spirit Province and negotiated compensation with Hall Master Long. The Heaven-Praying Hall agreed to pay two High-Grade Spirit Artifacts and another Low-Grade Spirit Artifact for the recorded evidence, while Chen Ning collected Venerable Mei’s lists and IOUs.

• The Heaven-Praying Hall Master learned that its disciples had exposed numerous secrets to the Dragon-Seeking Sect and urgently contacted Venerable Mei to order his return.
• Chen Ning and Meng Yuyi confronted Venerable Mei before he could leave, and Chen Ning told Hall Master Long that Venerable Mei would have to remain at the Dragon-Seeking Sect.
• Chen Ning used the Pot of Baseness to show Hall Master Long recordings of the Heaven-Praying Hall disciples’ confessions.
• Hall Master Long agreed to give Chen Ning two High-Grade Spirit Artifacts and one Low-Grade Spirit Artifact in exchange for the recordings and to settle the matter.
• Chen Ning collected Venerable Mei’s lists and IOUs and teased him about visiting again, leaving Venerable Mei furious.

Chen Ning used his new rewards to stop Venerable Mei from escaping and explained why his beautification scheme had failed. After Meng Yuyi helped capture Venerable Mei, she agreed to grant Chen Ning two more favors, leaving him to tease her about having a secret crush on him.

• Chen Ning received rewards for foiling Venerable Mei's plot, including a breakthrough to Two-Star Martial Venerable and the movement ability Stars Shift, Heaven and Earth Revolve.
• Venerable Mei tried to escape, but Chen Ning intercepted him with an Immortal-Trapping Talisman and Meng Yuyi froze him until he could no longer fight.
• Venerable Mei asked why Chen Ning's scheme had worked better than his own, and Chen Ning explained that free offerings were more tempting than services requiring payment.
• Members of the Black Dragon Clan arrived and escorted Venerable Mei back to the Dragon-Seeking Sect.
• Meng Yuyi agreed that Chen Ning still had one favor remaining, then accepted his teasing request for two more favors before pushing him away and leaving.

Chen Ning refined the supreme first-grade Mirror-Breaking Pill, whose emergence sent a phenomenon across the region and convinced the Longevity Hall's Alchemists of the Dragon-Seeking Sect's strength. The Heaven-Praying Hall learned of the immortal pill, and its third vice hall master urged the Hall Master to let other powers suppress the Dragon-Seeking Sect.

• Chen Ning refined a cauldron of Mirror-Breaking Pills, which could let anyone break through a realm without destabilizing their foundation.
• The completed pills sent dazzling rosy light across the Peach Blossom Spring Mountain Range and awakened its spirit beasts.
• True Person Qingyang recognized the phenomenon as the emergence of an immortal pill and identified Chen Ning as its likely maker.
• The Longevity Hall's Alchemists saw the phenomenon and became fully convinced that relying on the Dragon-Seeking Sect was the right choice.
• The Heaven-Praying Hall Master discussed the news with the three vice hall masters, while Venerable Mei and the Poison Venerable advised against confronting the Dragon-Seeking Sect.
• The third vice hall master urged the Heaven-Praying Hall Master to wait, saying other powers would move to suppress the Dragon-Seeking Sect if it rose.

Chen Ning used supreme-grade pills to raise Su Ling'er’s cultivation and help her become a One-Star Martial Venerable. He considered who should receive the remaining Realm-Breaking Pills, then prepared to use one to strengthen himself.

• Chen Ning stored seven nine-pattern Realm-Breaking Pills and explained that each could only be taken once.
• Chen Ning gave Su Ling'er a nine-pattern Earth Spirit Pill, raising her from the Earth Martial Realm Third Heaven to the Sixth Heavenly Layer.
• Chen Ning gave Su Ling'er a second Earth Spirit Pill, raising her to the Earth Martial Realm Eighth Heaven but leaving her in pain from an unstable realm.
• Chen Ning fed Su Ling'er a nine-pattern Realm-Breaking Pill, resolving the adverse effects and making her a One-Star Martial Venerable.
• Su Ling'er formed a barrier around the courtyard and asked Chen Ning what else barriers could be used for; he evaded her question.
• Chen Ning considered giving a Realm-Breaking Pill to the Sword Immortal and then took one out, intending to improve his own strength.

Venerable Insect and two disciples from the True Martial Saint Sect opened the Gate of the Insect Race in western Spirit Province to unleash a swarm and pressure the Dragon-Seeking Sect into surrendering its legendary secret treasure. The insects began overrunning Clear Breeze Ridge, where True Person Qingyang ordered the medicinal gardens burned.

• Venerable Insect’s two disciples helped him open the pit, releasing waves of insects into Spirit Province.
• Venerable Insect revealed that he planned to let the swarm threaten the Dragon-Seeking Sect, then demand its secret treasure.
• Insects descended on Clear Breeze Ridge and devoured Longevity Hall’s Spirit Plants and medicinal herbs.
• Longevity Hall’s protectors fought the advancing swarm but could not stop its overwhelming numbers.
• True Person Qingyang arrived and used fire to block the insects, then ordered Clear Breeze Ridge burned.

True Person Qingyang sent Longevity Hall forces to aid villages and cities in western Spirit Province and warned the Dragon-Seeking Sect as the insect disaster spread. The swarm then invaded the Great Yan Imperial Capital, where Venerable Insect ordered his disciples to open the city gates and let it through.

• True Person Qingyang burned the insects threatening Longevity Hall with Nine Mystic True Fire, then sent Elder Xu to nearby villages and Elder Lei to Li Fire City to help defend them.
• True Person Qingyang warned the Dragon-Seeking Sect after fearing the swarm might spread throughout Spirit Province.
• The Great Yan Emperor learned that western cities were running out of resources to power their defenses and decided to seek help from the cultivation world.
• The swarm poured into the Great Yan Imperial Capital at midnight, while soldiers and cultivators tried to defend the streets and city walls.
• The Thief God and North-Guarding Army elites examined captured insects, classified their types, and the Thief God left to report to the Emperor.
• Venerable Insect watched the swarm devour the dead and ordered his two disciples to open the city gates.

Chen Ning mobilized the Dragon-Seeking Sect to combat the rapidly spreading insect plague, suspecting someone was controlling the swarm. The chapter leaves him arriving in Gold and Iron City, where his intervention saves the city garrison commander from a swarm of insects.

• Chen Ning suspected the swarm had been moved by someone using a teleportation formation and asked Xiao Yuan to rally the Black Dragon Clan.
• Chen Ning summoned the elders and assigned the Dragon-Seeking Sect to fight the plague and rescue civilians across Spirit Province.
• The Fourth Elder volunteered to remain at the sect, and Chen Ning assigned him to guard its defenses.
• Xiao Mei offered to protect Chen Ning, but he sent her to command the Law Enforcement Hall.
• In Gold and Iron City, the garrison commander stayed behind to shield fleeing civilians and was overwhelmed by insects.
• Chen Ning arrived with a refined man carrying books and used righteous Qi to scatter the insects and save the commander.

Chen Ning used the Solar Eclipse Plaque to save Gold and Iron City, but insect swarms ravaged Spirit Province and overwhelmed its defenders. Venerable Insect arrived to demand a legendary secret treasure, and Chen Ning denied that the Dragon-Seeking Sect possessed one.

• Chen Ning unleashed the Solar Eclipse Plaque’s sunlight and wiped out the swarm attacking Gold and Iron City, though the people mourned their dead.
• Chen Ning received reports that the imperial capital and regions across Spirit Province were under attack, with the insects growing more numerous and organized.
• Another swarm approached Gold and Iron City, led by an elderly man who stopped the insects and identified himself as Venerable Insect.
• Venerable Insect claimed that handing over the legendary secret treasure would end the crisis, but Chen Ning insisted that the Dragon-Seeking Sect had no such treasure.
• Venerable Insect sneered that Chen Ning was determined to have his own way.

Venerable Insect showed Chen Ning the devastation caused by the insect swarm and revealed his allegiance to the True Martial Saint Sect, but Chen Ning refused to yield. After learning the swarm came from an ancient sealed insect egg in the Black Cloud Mountain Range, Chen Ning began considering a plan while the Heaven-Praying Hall watched Spirit Province’s crisis and plotted to exploit it.

• Venerable Insect showed Chen Ning scenes of the insect swarm ravaging Spirit Province and pressured him to hand over the secret treasure.
• Chen Ning vowed that the Dragon-Seeking Sect would retaliate after Venerable Insect admitted he served the True Martial Saint Sect, and Venerable Insect withdrew with the swarms.
• Xiao Mei told Chen Ning that insects were emerging from a pit in the Black Cloud Mountain Range and recounted how the Crimson Firmament Sword Saint had sealed a giant insect egg there ten thousand years earlier.
• Chen Ning connected the ancient insect egg to the Crimson Firmament Sword Saint’s later fate and considered trying a risky plan.
• The Heaven-Praying Hall watched Spirit Province’s devastation and discussed using the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s troubles to reclaim its Spirit Artifacts.