Chapter Summaries

Lu Ping completed Mind-Erasing Powder and entered the Back Mountain Forbidden Ground to confront Han Changqing alone. Han Changqing revealed his grievance against the Azure Cloud Sect and offered Lu Ping a place among the Demon Race, leaving Lu Ping to choose how to respond.

• Lu Ping finished three batches of Mind-Erasing Powder after testing the powder on his Fire Crow clone.
• Lu Ping sent Qian Dafu and Xu Qingshi away, then went alone to the Back Mountain Forbidden Ground while Han Changqing was inside.
• Lu Ping slipped through the forbidden ground's restriction and found Han Changqing beside a furnace holding a Blood-Congealing Five-Elements Pill.
• Han Changqing said the Azure Cloud Sect had denied him resources because of his Middle-Grade Spirit Root and offered to spare Lu Ping if he joined the Demon Race.
• Lu Ping recognized that Han Changqing's words connected the Lord of the South and the Bloodline Reversal Great Art to a wider threat, then faced choices about how to answer the offer.

Lu Ping chose to fight Han Changqing, then destroyed the Golden Core Talisman Seal and killed him after Han Changqing fused with the Blood-Congealing Five-Elements Pill. As other Greenwood Sect officials arrived at the Forbidden Ground, Lu Ping had taken Han Changqing’s Storage Ring and watched the lingering presences vanish.

• Lu Ping concealed his strength, poisoned the Forbidden Ground, and attacked Han Changqing, but Han Changqing summoned his Golden Core Talisman Seal and trapped him with blood threads.
• Lu Ping used Mind-Erasing Powder to force the talisman seal back into Han Changqing’s body, then struck it with powder-coated Flying Knives.
• Han Changqing fused with the Blood-Congealing Five-Elements Pill and reached False Core strength, but Lu Ping’s Flying Knives contaminated and shattered the talisman seal.
• Lu Ping stabbed Han Changqing’s Dantian and suppressed his power until Han Changqing collapsed and died.
• The Blood Furnace exploded, the Five Elder Tokens split apart, and the lingering presences vanished as Lu Ping took Han Changqing’s Storage Ring.
• An elder of the Law Enforcement Hall entered with disciples, followed by Steward Wang, Liu Cheng, the Main Hall Storehouse Manager, and the remaining elders.

After killing Han Changqing, Lu Ping took control of the Greenwood Sect and secured Azure Cloud Sect recognition by paying its envoy. Searching Han Changqing’s Storage Ring, he found a Demon Race cultivation method that could strengthen his fire crow and faced a choice about whether to learn it.

• Liu Cheng and the other Greenwood Sect members accepted Lu Ping as their new sect master after finding Han Changqing dead and evidence of his crimes.
• Lu Ping appointed Qian Dafu acting elder of the Alchemy Hall and transferred Xu Qingshi to the Main Hall, then filled the sect master’s cave abode and Main Hall with poisons.
• Lu Ping chose to pay the Azure Cloud Sect envoy, who registered him as Greenwood Sect’s sect master and demanded next year’s rent on time.
• Lu Ping searched the sect’s resources and Han Changqing’s Storage Ring, finding the Southern Bright Li Fire Scripture among its contents.
• Lu Ping realized the cultivation method could help him refine pills and nourish his fire crow, then faced a choice about whether to cultivate it.

Lu Ping gained the S-grade I'm the Client trait and tested its money-triggered effect while buying a defensive artifact. He continued cultivating the Southern Bright Li Fire Scripture and strengthening his Fire Crow, then received a severance-compensation trait at age thirty.

• Lu Ping replaced Flattery and Passing the Buck with I'm the Client and Friend of Women.
• Lu Ping bought a Black Tortoise Shield from Shopkeeper Zhou, who added maintenance array patterns after the new trait activated.
• Lu Ping triggered I'm the Client by striking Ma San with a Spirit Stone, causing Ma San to kneel and thank him for the reward.
• Lu Ping refined pills and cultivated, developing the Fire-Separation Finger and strengthening the Fire Crow until it could travel three hundred li from him.
• At age thirty, Lu Ping gained the C-grade Severance Compensation trait and considered what it might mean if the Azure Cloud Sect dismissed him.

After reaching Foundation Establishment Late Stage by taking pills, the protagonist prepared to leave the Greenwood Sect and seek the Golden-Pattern Yellow Fang Ganoderma needed for the Yellow Fang Pill. At the secret realm entrance in Broken Sunset Valley, he found a bustling marketplace and faced a choice about buying accident insurance.

• The protagonist credited his rapid cultivation progress to the Hundred-Forged Medicine Body Formula and two daily Qi-Gathering Pills, with his abilities managing the side effects and costs.
• At a sect meeting, the protagonist announced a period of seclusion and put Xu Qingshi in charge of the main hall’s affairs, then used his presence to make the assembled cultivators wary.
• The protagonist left the Greenwood Sect in disguise and flew to Broken Sunset Valley, where he followed Monk Wuming’s Jade Slip to the secret realm entrance.
• At the temporary marketplace, the protagonist encountered sellers of maps, bodyguard services, and secret realm accident insurance.
• The insurance seller explained that coverage could pay out even if the protagonist’s remains were lost, while a companion killing him required extra payment.
• The protagonist considered whether to buy insurance, avoid the offer, or insure his enemies and name himself the beneficiary.

Lu Ping met Wuming before entering the Yellow Fang Secret Realm, where they learned that the Zhao Household was also seeking the Golden-Patterned Yellow Bud Ganoderma. After entering, Lu Ping used his fire crow to scout through the poisonous, flight-restricted realm and encountered dangerous creatures and dead cultivators before it reached a broken stone stele.

• Lu Ping met Wuming, who shared information about the secret realm and warned him that the Zhao Household would compete for the Golden-Patterned Yellow Bud Ganoderma.
• Zhao Mingchuan arrived with guards and an old servant, while Wuming identified him as a Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator who might possess a Golden Core-level talisman.
• Lu Ping gave Wuming a bottle of mid-grade Detoxification Pills, and the two entered the secret realm after Zhao Mingchuan and the other cultivators.
• Lu Ping discovered that the yellow fog suppressed Divine Sense and that an invisible restriction prevented flight, then sent his fire crow ahead to scout.
• Lu Ping avoided a swarm of venomous bees and a group of black ants feeding near two corpses before the fire crow landed on a broken stone stele.

Li and Wuming navigated the mind-bewildering yellow mist, gathered valuable herbs, and crossed Soul-Severing Stream after Wuming dispelled its lingering spirits. They were confronted by Zhao Mingchuan and his armed group, who demanded their Storage Bags, leaving Li to choose how to respond.

• Li and Wuming used the Fire Crow and Wuming’s scriptures to navigate the yellow mist and gather rare medicinal herbs.
• Li and Wuming found Soul-Severing Stream, where Wuming calmed the dead spirits as they crossed.
• Zhao Mingchuan and his group emerged from the mist and demanded that Li and Wuming hand over their Storage Bags.
• Zhao Mingchuan ordered his guards to attack, while Wuming said he did not wish to take lives.

Lu Ping and Wuming killed Zhao Mingchuan and his guards, then divided their spoils while continuing upstream along Soul-Severing Stream. They found a Golden-Pattern Yellow Fang Ganoderma growing in a Golden Core Corpse Fiend and faced a choice about how to proceed.

• Lu Ping used Spirit Stones, flying knives, and his techniques to kill Zhao Mingchuan's four guards and break through Zhao Mingchuan's defenses.
• Lu Ping killed Zhao Mingchuan after coating his Golden Core Talisman with Mind-Erasing Powder, and he and Wuming defeated the old servant in gray.
• Lu Ping and Wuming collected and divided the Zhao Household's Spirit Stones and Law Artifacts, with Wuming saying they were helping the household clear its debts.
• Lu Ping and Wuming continued upstream and found a Golden-Pattern Yellow Fang Ganoderma growing in the chest of a Golden Core Corpse Fiend.
• The Corpse Fiend stood up, and options appeared asking whether to flee with the ganoderma, kill it first, or negotiate.

Li and Wuming defeated a Golden Core Corpse Fiend, harvested the Golden-Pattern Yellow Fang Ganoderma, and refined six Yellow Fang Pills. They split the pills evenly before continuing through the dangerous secret realm.

• Li weakened the Golden Core Corpse Fiend with Spirit Stones and poisoned knives, then used the Hundred-Forged Medicine Body Formula to withstand its attacks.
• Wuming used the Karmic Fire Rebirth Incantation to purify the Corpse Fiend's remnant soul while Li protected him and destroyed the fiend.
• Li harvested the Golden-Pattern Yellow Fang Ganoderma after Wuming finished chanting over the remains.
• Li refined six Yellow Fang Pills on the spot, astonishing Wuming with his alchemy.
• Li gave Wuming three pills, and Wuming thanked him before Li joked that the debt would accrue interest.

Lu Ping escaped the secret realm with Wuming and traveled to Qingyang City to find Void-Aperture Jade Marrow and a route to Second-Grade Alchemist qualifications. There, he encountered a bustling market for cultivation services, including a hall that rented spirit roots, and faced a choice about whether to try it.

• Lu Ping and Wuming used Random Teleportation Talismans to escape the secret realm, then confirmed the area around their landing site was clear.
• Wuming told Lu Ping he had escaped and would enter seclusion to attempt Golden Core, while Lu Ping chose to go to Qingyang City to seek Void-Aperture Jade Marrow and alchemist qualifications.
• Lu Ping traveled by passenger spirit boat, where a Qi Refining cultivator told him that Qingyang City’s Heavenly Certification Alliance branch was recruiting alchemy-chamber menial workers.
• Lu Ping arrived in Qingyang City and saw its crowded streets, cultivation businesses, and sharp divide between cultivators of different ranks.
• A hostess at the Spirit Root Rental Hall offered Lu Ping a short-term rental using Child Mother Gu to synchronize cultivation results, and he considered whether to try it.

Lu Ping avoided predatory spirit-root rentals and a lethal pill trial before learning that he needed a Second-Grade Alchemist qualification to enter an auction that might sell Void-Aperture Jade Marrow. He chose to take the examination and was offered a costly preparation package, leaving him to decide whether to buy it.

• Lu Ping refused a spirit-root rental and watched a young man die during a dangerous Body-Tempering Pill trial in Qingyang City.
• Lu Ping visited the Azure Dragon Merchant Association and met head shopkeeper Shen Yuerong, who told him that a joint auction in seven days might offer Void-Aperture Jade Marrow.
• Shen Yuerong explained that the auction required a Second-Grade Alchemist qualification, so Lu Ping chose to take the examination rather than force his way in or seek a fake certificate.
• Shen Yuerong warned Lu Ping about the examination's difficulty and offered him a one-thousand-Spirit-Stone preparation package, leaving him to choose whether to buy it.

Lu Ping paid for second-grade alchemy exam materials and a cave abode at the Azure Dragon Merchant Association, then searched for a cultivation method suited to his fighting style. He found a suspiciously cheap high-grade hidden-weapon method on consignment but hesitated to buy it because the cost could jeopardize his exam, auction plans, and purchase of Void Aperture Jade Marrow.

• Lu Ping paid Shen Yuerong one thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, received exam materials and a token, and signed the coaching contract.
• Lu Ping rented a top-class Jia cave abode for seven days and discovered that its Spiritual Qi let him cultivate more quickly than at the Greenwood Sect.
• Lu Ping went shopping for a stronger hidden-weapon technique because his current fighting style seemed inadequate against disciples of major sects.
• Lu Ping found the high-grade Thousand Mechanisms Falling Blossoms Instruction priced at ten thousand Spirit Stones and asked Shen Yuerong why it had a red label.
• Shen Yuerong explained that the technique was being sold on consignment, while Lu Ping weighed its price against his upcoming exam, the auction, and the Void Aperture Jade Marrow.

Lu Ping sold forty Qi-Gathering Pills to Shen Yuerong, signed a contract to obtain the Thousand Mechanisms Falling Blossoms Instruction, and received the method in the form of a captive cultivator. After learning that Ji Chengfeng had been imprisoned for more than ten years, Lu Ping questioned when he had been captured.

• Lu Ping sold forty Qi-Gathering Pills to Shen Yuerong for thirty thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones and received a second-tier valued guest token.
• Lu Ping noticed that the contract for the Thousand Mechanisms Falling Blossoms Instruction bore the same dark mark as a token linked to the Black Tiger Gang, but he signed it to pursue the lead.
• Lu Ping prepared for his alchemist exam while waiting, then sensed two black-clad Foundation Establishment cultivators arrive with an unconscious young man.
• The black-clad cultivators said the Cultivation Method was in the young man's head, left him outside Lu Ping's cave abode, and vanished through a formation.
• Lu Ping brought the young man inside, woke him, and learned that he was Ji Chengfeng, a disciple of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect who had been imprisoned after his master refused to yield to the black-clad group.
• Lu Ping asked Ji Chengfeng what year he had been captured.

Lu Ping obtained the Thousand Mechanisms Falling Blossoms Instruction from Ji Chengfeng, learned that the mysterious Dark Hall had massacred mortal villages, and let Ji Chengfeng go. After two days of exam preparation, Lu Ping faced a Wang Family demand to vacate his Grade-A cave abode.

• Ji Chengfeng gave Lu Ping the complete Thousand Mechanisms Falling Blossoms Instruction and said the Dark Hall had held him in the Azure Dragon Upper Domain.
• Ji Chengfeng told Lu Ping that his master had died while investigating massacres of mortal villages, and Lu Ping released him with travel expenses.
• Lu Ping secretly followed Ji Chengfeng with a Fire Crow, then chose to prioritize studying for his Second-Grade Alchemist exam over practicing the new technique.
• Lu Ping spent two days studying and refining waste herbs in preparation for the exam.
• A Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator from the Wang Family arrived with guards and an Azure Dragon Merchant Association officer, demanding that Lu Ping leave his Grade-A cave abode within half a quarter hour.

Lu Ping chose to stay in his A-Class Cave Abode and expose the Wang Family’s attempt to pressure Shen Yuerong by poisoning their guards. Shen Yuerong arrived, rejected the Wang Family’s unpaid reservation, and struck down its leader and the merchant association guard responsible for opening the area.

• Lu Ping rejected moving out and messaged Shen Yuerong that the Wang Family had entered the A-Class Cave Abode Area.
• Lu Ping spread Spirit-Eroding Powder and Mind-Erasing Powder outside his cave abode, causing Wang Family cultivators to collapse and panic.
• Shen Yuerong arrived with merchant association stewards and learned that Guard Leader had opened the area under Steward Chen Ye’s Temporary Order.
• A steward confirmed that the Wang Family’s reservation was unpaid and unauthorized, so Shen Yuerong shattered its Contract Token.
• Shen Yuerong struck the Wang Household Leader into the wall and then injured the Merchant Association Guard Leader for dereliction of duty.

Lu Ping used the Azure Dragon Merchant Association’s guaranteed-candidate channel to reach the Second-Grade Registered Alchemist examination, where he ignored Jin Yutang’s taunts and noticed Shen Silan among the examiners. The chapter ended as Lu Ping faced a choice about whether to acknowledge Shen Silan and reveal his connection to Shen Yuerong.

• Shen Yuerong calmed the tenants after the Wang Household’s confrontation and extended A-section leases while offering Calming Spirit Pills to those frightened.
• Lu Ping finished a batch of inferior herbs into four middling pills and went to the Heavenly Certification Alliance Qingyang Branch Hall for his examination.
• Lu Ping used the Azure Dragon Merchant Association’s Second-Class Distinguished Guest Token to enter the guaranteed-candidate waiting area.
• Jin Yutang mocked Lu Ping’s border-region origins, but Lu Ping ignored him and continued reading until Wang Qinian provoked Jin Yutang instead.
• A deacon stopped the dispute, and the chief examiner introduced the five examiners, including Shen Silan, whose glance at Lu Ping’s name reminded him of his ties to Shen Yuerong.

Lu Ping passed the second-level alchemy examination by carefully adapting to the poor-quality herbs, while Jin Yutang and Wang Qinian failed. The examiners ordered Lu Ping and three other candidates to retake the test, leaving Lu Ping to decide how to respond.

• Lu Ping identified that the examination herbs had been dried and adjusted his refining process to produce four acceptable Qi-Gathering Pills.
• Lu Ping passed, while Jin Yutang produced only two pills and Wang Qinian was disqualified for excessive Pill Poison.
• Zhao Huai'an passed with four above-average pills, and eleven of the seventy-three candidates passed overall.
• Zhao Danlin questioned Lu Ping's result, and the chief examiner ordered Lu Ping, Zhao Huai'an, Jin Yutang, and Wang Qinian to take a retest.
• Jin Yutang protested that he had failed, but the chief examiner pointed out that Jin had filed an objection about the materials.

Lu Ping passed the Second-Grade Registered Alchemist examination and began cultivating the Thousand Mechanisms Falling Blossoms Instruction. After finding Void-Aperture Jade Marrow in an auction catalog, he arranged to trade Yellow Fang Pills for it and met the seller, who offered the jade marrow for two pills.

• Lu Ping repeated his alchemy examination and passed, while Zhao Huai'an also passed and Jin Yutang and Wang Qinian failed.
• The chief examiner gave Lu Ping his Second-Grade Registered Alchemist qualification token, unlocking new privileges.
• Lu Ping began cultivating the Thousand Mechanisms Falling Blossoms Instruction and used Artisan Spirit to refine his technique.
• Shen Yuerong brought Lu Ping an auction catalog, where he found Void-Aperture Jade Marrow offered in exchange for Yellow Fang Pills.
• Lu Ping chose to meet the seller and trade, then showed Shen Yuerong a Yellow Fang Pill.
• A gray-robed Golden Core cultivator offered Lu Ping the Void-Aperture Jade Marrow in return for two Yellow Fang Pills.

Lu Ping traded a Yellow Fang Pill and Spirit Stones for Void-Aperture Jade Marrow, then refined and consumed a Heaven-Mending Minor Restoration Pill that raised his Spirit Root from Low-Grade to Middle-Grade. He fled Qingyang City before the auction, but a female cultivator tracking him followed the trail north.

• Lu Ping traded one Yellow Fang Pill and twenty thousand Spirit Stones to the gray-robed elder for the Void-Aperture Jade Marrow.
• Lu Ping refined the Heaven-Mending Minor Restoration Pill and consumed it, improving his Low-Grade Spirit Root to Middle-Grade.
• Lu Ping chose to leave Qingyang City rather than attend the auction and departed through the north gate by flying boat.
• A female cultivator followed Lu Ping’s trail north with a Bronze Compass and destroyed the crow watching her group.

Lu Ping lured the Zhao Household pursuers into a poison-filled valley and used his newly mastered Thousand Mechanisms Falling Blossoms Instruction to ambush them. After killing the Foundation Establishment squad and weakening their Golden Core leader, he saw her draw a Red Jade Talisman and prepared for what came next.

• Lu Ping led the Zhao Household pursuers through remote terrain for three months before choosing a poisonous valley for his ambush.
• Lu Ping laid poison and concealed Spirit Stones around the valley, then waited for the Zhao Household's Golden Core female cultivator and thirty Foundation Establishment cultivators to arrive.
• The Golden Core female cultivator accused Lu Ping of harming her son and revealed that the Heavenly Secret Pavilion had tracked him using a Yellow Fang Pill and bronze compass.
• Lu Ping struck the pursuers with Spirit Stones, triggering I'm the Client, then attacked them with poisoned flying knives and Fire-Separation Fingers.
• Lu Ping kept his distance as he damaged the Golden Core cultivator's defenses and killed the Foundation Establishment guards, leaving her as the sole survivor.
• The Golden Core female cultivator retreated and drew a Red Jade Talisman, so Lu Ping pulled back and considered whether to flee or keep attacking.