Chapter Summaries

The curses in the Quenching Pool seemed to ruin Vast Heaven Holy Land’s saint artifacts, but Wu Man discovered that they strengthened the artifacts instead. He hailed the result as Senior Brother Xinghe’s backup plan, leaving Chu Xinghe bewildered.

• The Xinghe Haters' Group prepared to publish an article claiming Chu Xinghe’s Quenching Pool scheme had caused massive losses across the Three Continents.
• After the other factions departed, Ma Liang reported that the Quenching Pool had cursed a batch of Vast Heaven Holy Land’s saint artifacts.
• The Grand Elder ordered that no more high-level spirit treasures enter the pool, while Wu Man flew over to inspect the cursed artifacts.
• Wu Man touched a cursed saint sword and found that its power had increased, then demonstrated its enhanced strength by piercing a mountain.
• Wu Man declared that Senior Brother Xinghe’s backup plan had worked, and Chu Xinghe was left confused.

Wu Man demonstrated that cursed holy artifacts had gained Curse Wound, which weakened healing, while Elder He and the Great Sage explained the art through a gruesome experiment. The others traced the artifacts’ power to a hidden formation inside the Quenching Pool, and Chu Xinghe was exposed as its creator despite denying involvement.

• Wu Man used several cursed holy artifacts and showed that their curse powers had strengthened them rather than ruining them.
• Elder He and the Great Sage explained Curse Wound, then demonstrated that it reduced healing from pills by at least seventy percent.
• Elder He recounted how the Craft God had found a damaged treasure bearing Curse Wound and became entangled in curses while trying to reproduce it.
• Ma Liang blamed the Curse Wound on Senior Brother Xinghe, citing Xinghe’s excited expression when the crisis began, while Chu Xinghe insisted it had nothing to do with him.
• White Tiger Holy Venerable revealed that Chu Xinghe had concealed a Formation Within a Formation in the Quenching Pool, where Flying Locusts drew curse power from the Craft God Mausoleum.

Chu Xinghe’s formation unexpectedly imbued the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s spirit treasures with Curse Wound, turning what everyone had feared was a loss into a major victory. While the White Tiger Holy Venerable and other formation masters praised his genius, Chu Xinghe planned to remove the Flying Locust and destroy the Formation Within a Formation before it could keep working.

• The Grand Elder interpreted Chu Xinghe’s indifferent manner as genuine humility and believed he had planned the formation’s success all along.
• The White Tiger Holy Venerable explained that Chu Xinghe had used the Flying Locust to create a Formation Within a Formation that balanced the mausoleum’s curses and imbued spirit treasures with Curse Wound.
• The formation masters marveled at Chu Xinghe’s intricate technique, and the gathered factions recognized that the Vast Heaven Holy Land had gained powerful spirit treasures instead of suffering a loss.
• Chu Xinghe privately cursed the unexpected result and realized that pulling out the Flying Locust could make the Formation Within a Formation collapse, preventing further Curse Wound.

Chu Xinghe’s Formation Within a Formation recreated the legendary Curse Wound, prompting the Three Continents’ factions to offer to pay Vast Heaven Holy Land for spirit attachments. Determined to prevent the Misfortune Compass from turning the discovery into another setback, Chu Xinghe withdrew the Flying Locust, apparently making the formation and Curse Wound disappear.

• The White Tiger Holy Venerable explained that the Curse Wound required a compatible curse and a Formation Within a Formation, and that ordinary spiritual treasures might not be able to withstand it.
• Cheng Xiaotian and other major figures offered to pay Vast Heaven Holy Land to imbue their sacred artifacts with the Curse Wound.
• Chu Xinghe realized the Misfortune Compass had changed and decided he could use the Flying Locust as a backup plan to end the Curse Wound spirit attachments.
• Chu Xinghe commanded the Flying Locust with the Haotian Sword Casket, and it flew out of the formation as the onlookers watched in shock.

Chu Xinghe withdrew Flying Locust, but its Curse Wound formation transformed into a legendary Shadow Formation Within a Formation. The change upgraded the Quenching Pool so it could imbue any spirit treasure with Curse Wound, leaving Ma Liang eager to profit from the discovery.

• Chu Xinghe withdrew Flying Locust from the Curse Wound Formation Within a Formation, intending to make the formation collapse.
• Curse power gathered where Flying Locust had been and formed curse stones that stabilized the formation as a Shadow Formation Within a Formation.
• White Tiger rushed into the Quenching Pool, and Elder He explained that the formation matched the legendary Shadow Formation described in ancient texts.
• The Shadow Formation rekindled the Quenching Pool, and Ouyang Ming tested it by giving an ordinary spirit treasure Curse Wound and stabbing An Lan with it.
• Ouyang Ming realized the Quenching Pool had been upgraded to enchant any spirit treasure, and Ma Liang saw the chance to earn vast resources.

Chu Xinghe announced that the rebuilt Craft God Quenching Pool and its Curse Wound imbuement abilities belonged to the Hua Clan, honoring Vast Heaven Holy Land’s promise. Clan Head Hua then offered Vast Heaven Holy Land half the pool’s value, undoing Chu Xinghe’s losses and bringing the Misfortune Compass to a stop.

• White Tiger Holy Venerable explained that the Flying Locust made the original formation too powerful for lower-tier spirit treasures, while Chu Xinghe’s Shadow Formation Within a Formation allowed Curse Wound to be imbued into any spirit treasure.
• As powerful figures from the Three Continents asked Ma Liang about imbuement prices, Chu Xinghe declared that the Quenching Pool belonged to the Hua Clan.
• Chu Xinghe reaffirmed Vast Heaven Holy Land’s promise, and Clan Head Hua accepted ownership after the Grand Elder nodded.
• Clan Head Hua announced that the Hua Clan would give Vast Heaven Holy Land half the value produced by the Quenching Pool.
• The Misfortune Compass returned to its original position, and Chu Xinghe realized the Hua Clan’s offer had made up for Vast Heaven Holy Land’s losses.

Tantai Jing explained how Yuan Ying’s bootlicking had protected the Demonic Sect and how Clan Head Hua’s decision to share the Quenching Pool’s profits secured the Hua Clan’s future. The Hua Clan celebrated its newfound prosperity as news spread, while the Xinghe Haters' Group prepared to respond.

• Tantai Jing praised Yuan Ying’s apparent bootlicking as a strategy that saved him from the Vast Heaven Holy Land and helped the Demonic Sect secure a lasting share of the Quenching Pool’s profits.
• Tantai Jing explained that Clan Head Hua had gained the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s protection and future support by giving it half the Quenching Pool’s profits.
• The Hua Clan’s elders celebrated surviving its crisis and gaining the Quenching Pool, the ability to imbue Curse Wound, and the Craft God Inheritance.
• News of the Quenching Pool spread, and the professional haters in the Xinghe Haters' Group saw their faces darken.

Chu Xinghe went into seclusion after the Misfortune Compass stopped him from benefiting when others took his opportunities, while Ma Liang negotiated Quenching Pool prices and left the Civil Engineering Department suffering under the workload. On the Demon Star Continent, a Wolf Clan elder's breakthrough failed when spiritual power ran short, and the Wolf King realized the continent's ley lines had begun to change.

• The Xinghe Haters' Group held a meeting, failed to choose a leader, and suspended its plans to hate on Chu Xinghe.
• Chu Xinghe returned to the Vast Heaven Holy Land and went into seclusion in the Technique Repository Tower.
• Ma Liang haggled with factions across the Three Continents over Quenching Pool services, then agreed to their higher offer after threatening to make the service free.
• Clan Head Hua praised Ma Liang's negotiations, while the Civil Engineering Department blamed its worsening troubles on the Hua Clan's survival and Ma Liang's deals.
• Gui Li urged his Civil Engineering Department seniors to keep working, and Azure Dragon noticed Gui Li's Evil God Mask had become cute and adorable.
• The Wolf King's Spirit Gathering Formation failed to provide enough spiritual power for a Wolf Clan elder's breakthrough, and the Wolf King suspected the Demon Star Continent's ley lines had changed.

As Spiritual Qi began to run dry across the Demon Star Continent, the Wolf King investigated whether the decline was a local fluctuation or a consequence of the changing earth veins. When the depletion spread toward the Spirit Beast Continent and the Blazing Sun Continent, he rushed to the Vast Heaven Holy Land to report the crisis.

• The Wolf King sensed Spiritual Qi declining on the Demon Star Continent and realized the changes in the earth veins had reached it.
• The Wolf King suppressed the news, sent subordinates to investigate, and used Wolf Clan resources to establish Spirit Gathering Formations.
• The Spiritual Qi initially appeared to recover near the formations, but soon began running dry across the entire Demon Star Continent.
• The Wolf King calmed the Demon Race patriarchs and sent subordinates to learn whether the crisis extended beyond their continent.
• The Wolf King learned that Spiritual Qi depletion was spreading toward the Spirit Beast Continent and the Blazing Sun Continent, then immediately set off for the Vast Heaven Holy Land.

As Spiritual Qi withered across the Three Continents, the Evil Lords gathered at the White Spirit Division to demand the White Spirit Evil Lord’s plan for saving the Evil Spirit Clan. He revealed he had no plan yet, but argued that waiting would keep Chu Xinghe’s Star Divination Art from exposing their strategy, and the Evil Lords pledged to fight rather than surrender.

• The Earth Sha Evil Lord detected changes in the Three Continents’ earth veins and warned that the Evil Spirit Clan faced its last chance to escape before the continents merged.
• The Heavenly Secrets Evil Lord and Heart-Devouring Evil Lord pressed the White Spirit Evil Lord for his plan, and he admitted he had not devised one.
• The White Spirit Evil Lord declared that White Spirits would die rather than surrender and explained that he was waiting until Chu Xinghe could no longer counter his eventual strategy.
• The Heart-Devouring Evil Lord asked what would happen if the White Spirit Evil Lord still had no idea at the last moment, and he vowed to lead the White Spirit Division in battle regardless.
• Bai Yu encouraged the other Evil Lords to stand with the White Spirit Division, and they pledged their divisions would fight alongside it.
• Bai Yu recorded the Evil Lords’ vows in a memory crystal as they declared that the Evil Spirit Clan would never surrender or be enslaved.

The Wolf King warned Vast Heaven Holy Land that Spiritual Qi was rapidly declining across Demon Star Continent and would soon affect the Three Continents. Gui Li confirmed the earth veins would take about five years to adjust and proposed using spirit stones to sustain Spiritual Qi until they could be repaired.

• The White Spirit Evil Lord sent Bai Yu away to prepare for the Evil Spirit Clan’s final battle against the Three Continents.
• The Wolf King told Gu Mingchao, Chu Xinghe, and Vast Heaven Holy Land’s leaders that Spiritual Qi was declining and could spread across the Three Continents within half a month.
• The White Tiger Holy Venerable estimated that the earth veins would restore Spiritual Qi within three to five years, while Elder He presented an ancient tome warning that five years without Spiritual Qi could permanently damage cultivators.
• The grand elder summoned Gui Li, who confirmed the earth veins needed five years to adjust and warned against intervening too early.
• Gui Li proposed using a Reverse Spirit Formation and spirit stones to maintain Spiritual Qi until the earth veins were ready to be repaired.

As the Demon Star Continent’s earth veins threatened to drain Spiritual Qi across all Three Continents, Gui Li proposed using Reverse Spirit Formations to keep it from disappearing completely. The major powers gathered at the Vast Heaven Holy Land to discuss the plan, but hesitated over the enormous cost of sustaining formations across the continents.

• Gui Li explained that the earth-vein changes would drain Spiritual Qi throughout the Three Continents and could not be repaired until they reached a later stage.
• Gui Li proposed Reverse Spirit Formations that would release Spiritual Qi from spirit stones back into the surrounding area, and Chu Xinghe eagerly recognized how much the plan would consume.
• The grand elder had Shen Chun invite the major powers to the Vast Heaven Holy Land to discuss the crisis.
• Representatives from Martial Emperor City, Jade Void Palace, and other powers confirmed that they had noticed Spiritual Qi declining in their regions.
• After Gui Li explained the formations to the assembled leaders, they hesitated because funding them across the Three Continents could exhaust their resources and threaten their survival.

As the Three Continents’ leaders struggled to fund Reverse Spirit Formations, Ma Liang proposed concentrating them around major powers and charging cultivators to enter. The leaders embraced his idea as “weathering a crisis together,” while Chu Xinghe watched in dismay as Ma Liang’s scheme gained support and Thunder Shadow locked on to him.

• Ma Liang waited for the Grand Elder’s permission before addressing the gathered leaders about the cost of maintaining Spiritual Qi across the Three Continents.
• Ma Liang proposed placing Reverse Spirit Formations around major powers and charging people nearby for access, reducing the burden on each power.
• Cheng Xiaotian and the other leaders praised the proposal, reframing admission fees as everyone sharing the crisis together.
• Xing Yushen said Ma Liang needed more practice choosing his words, and Ma Liang agreed that the leaders were better at being shameless.
• Chu Xinghe cried as the leaders endorsed the plan, while Thunder Shadow locked onto Ma Liang and he worried the attack would come before he could prepare.

Ma Liang reflected on how Vast Heaven Sect had guided his growth from a reckless troublemaker into a self-correcting, fair-minded disciple worthy of becoming the First Elder’s successor. Seeing Chu Xinghe excited by Ma Liang’s initiative, he decided he had grown into the Senior Brother’s foremost confidant.

• Ma Liang compared his former impulsiveness with Chu Xinghe’s composure and recalled how the First Elder and sect leaders had let his first disobedience go unpunished so he could learn from it.
• Ma Liang remembered the First Elder teaching him that sect rules were meant to guide disciples, and he recognized that reflecting on his mistakes had earned him the chance to grow.
• Ma Liang recalled how he inspected the palaces fairly and apologized when he discovered he had wrongly scolded a Frigid Ice Palace disciple.
• Ma Liang credited his growth to witnessing Chu Xinghe’s achievements and earning the respect of the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s disciples.
• Ma Liang saw Chu Xinghe looking excited as he took initiative and suggested methods, and he concluded that he remained Chu Xinghe’s foremost confidant.

In the Haotian Grand Hall, Ma Liang proposed that people seeking shelter in the Reverse Spirit Formations give one tenth of their assets to the major forces as “heartfelt gratitude.” The righteous and Demonic Sect bigwigs approved the plan, leaving Chu Xinghe opposed and the wealthy people of the Three Continents in Ma Liang’s sights.

• Wang Daoquan asked Ma Liang how much people should pay to receive shelter, and Cheng Xiaotian insisted the payment was heartfelt gratitude, not an admission fee.
• Ma Liang proposed collecting one tenth of each person’s assets rather than one spirit stone, saying the equal share would be affordable for ordinary people and worthwhile for the major forces.
• Tantai Jing recognized the plan as an exceptionally effective way to gather resources, while the righteous-path leaders praised its consideration for ordinary people.
• The righteous and Demonic Sect bigwigs unanimously approved Ma Liang’s proposal, but Chu Xinghe opposed it as the plan targeted wealthy people across the Three Continents.

Ma Liang’s one-tenth plan won praise from the major powers, though Chu Xinghe realized it had turned a crisis response into a way to collect resources from the Three Continents’ wealthy clans and tycoons. As Spiritual Qi declined across the Three Continents, the joint plan to fund Reverse Spirit Formations split public opinion, but ordinary people rallied behind the major powers and against the rich.

• At a banquet, Ma Liang credited Senior Brother Xinghe for his plan, while Chu Xinghe worried that Ma Liang’s scheme had gone far beyond what he intended.
• As Spiritual Qi rapidly declined across the Three Continents, the Haotian Mirror filled with discussion and the people fell into chaos.
• The major powers jointly announced that people could contribute a tenth of their resources to enter Reverse Spirit Formations for protection, prompting outrage from wealthy people and support from ordinary people and rogue cultivators.
• Ordinary people argued that the wealthy could refuse to enter and that the major powers were contributing far more to protect everyone.
• The major powers’ burdens and the wealthy clans’ habit of avoiding responsibility were laid out, and Ma Liang’s plan gained support for targeting those clans alongside the powers that sheltered them.

Cheng Xiaotian explained to Zheng Yu how Ma Liang’s Same Lifespan as Heaven and Earth plan had overcome the political barriers that protected the Three Continents’ aristocratic families. The families debated resisting the one-tenth contribution, but Chu Xinghe’s reputation as the Aristocratic Family Killer left them silent.

• Cheng Xiaotian told Zheng Yu that aristocratic families were difficult to uproot because they were deeply tied to the major powers, ordinary people, and Rogue Cultivators.
• Cheng Xiaotian explained that Ma Liang’s plan used the Spiritual Qi crisis and the great powers’ example to pressure every aristocratic family into contributing one tenth of its resources.
• Zheng Yu realized Ma Liang’s plan would damage the families and could establish him as Vast Heaven Holy Land’s future grand elder.
• The aristocratic families discussed refusing to contribute and setting up the Reverse Spirit Formation themselves, but recognized that doing so could cost far more than one tenth.
• An aristocratic family warned that Chu Xinghe might act if the families resisted Ma Liang, and the families fell silent at the thought of facing the Aristocratic Family Killer.

The aristocratic families of the Three Continents agreed to surrender a tenth of their resources rather than risk provoking Chu Xinghe, whose reputation kept them from resisting Ma Liang’s plan. As the major powers began establishing the Reverse Spirit Formation, an unforeseen development occurred.

• Several aristocratic families demanded retaliation, but the major families urged them to accept losing a tenth of their resources rather than provoke Chu Xinghe.
• The families reached an agreement to back down, and their leaders punished disciples who had privately spread negative news about Ma Liang and other powers.
• The major powers of the Three Continents realized Chu Xinghe’s reputation had deterred the families, many of which had moved or planned to move away from Vast Heaven Holy Land’s sphere of influence.
• The major powers began setting up the Reverse Spirit Formation, but an unexpected development disrupted their plans.

Chu Xinghe ordered Vast Heaven Holy Land to build Reverse Spirit Formations, hoping their cost would let the Holy Land lose money, but the formations instead had their resources devoured almost immediately. The other powers of the Three Continents suffered the same disaster, and the leaders gathered in the Haotian Grand Hall to find a solution.

• Chu Xinghe persuaded Ma Liang to build many Reverse Spirit Formations across the Haotian Mountain Range, despite the Holy Land's abundant Spiritual Qi.
• Chu Xinghe activated two formations, and each rapidly released all the Spiritual Qi from its resources; he concluded that an unknown change in heaven and earth was responsible.
• Shen Chun teleported through the protective formation to summon Chu Xinghe, White Tiger Holy Venerable, and Elder Ling Mou to the Haotian Grand Hall.
• Chu Xinghe learned that Reverse Spirit Formations across the Three Continents had started devouring their resources, wiping out between half and nearly all of the major powers' investments.
• Elder He suspected the earth vein changes had caused the disaster, and Gui Li confirmed that the earth veins had begun consuming the Spiritual Qi released by the formations.

After the Reverse Spirit Formation failed and the earth veins changed, Chu Xinghe reassured the major powers and learned that Blood Spirit Stones could keep the formation running. He eagerly offered Vast Heaven Holy Land’s supply, believing he could finally squander its stores and make the Misfortune Compass turn in his favor.

• Ma Liang blamed himself for the Reverse Spirit Formation’s failure, but Cheng Xiaotian, Elder He, and Chu Xinghe reassured him.
• Chu Xinghe learned that the major powers had suffered devastating losses and asked Gui Li to investigate the earth veins.
• Gui Li reported that ordinary spirit stones no longer worked for the formation, but Blood Spirit Stones did.
• Chu Xinghe urged the major powers to continue building the formation with Blood Spirit Stones and offered Vast Heaven Holy Land’s supply for free.
• Chu Xinghe celebrated the chance to use up the Holy Land’s Blood Spirit Stones as the Misfortune Compass spun rapidly.