Chapter Summaries

Lu Ping survived the Golden Core woman cultivator’s Nascent Soul talisman by using a Random Teleportation Talisman, then doubled back and poisoned and harassed her until she self-destructed. He looted the Zhao Household guards and fled north, but the woman’s Blood Curse remained on his arm.

• Lu Ping escaped the Nascent Soul strike with a damaged Black Tortoise Shield and returned to ambush the wounded Golden Core woman cultivator.
• Lu Ping used poison, the Thousand Mechanisms Falling Blossoms Instruction, and hit-and-run tactics to wear down the Golden Core woman cultivator.
• The Golden Core woman cultivator cursed Lu Ping with a blood rune and then self-destructed.
• Lu Ping returned to the valley, collected the Zhao Household guards’ belongings and the Golden Core woman cultivator’s Storage Ring, and continued north.
• Lu Ping failed to remove the Blood Curse, and options appeared for what to do next.

Lu Ping confronted the Zhao Household's ancestor, who revealed that Lu Ping had ruined his plan to kill his son and lover as part of a cultivation breakthrough. When the ancestor nearly killed Lu Ping, Jiang Mutian emerged from his ring and overpowered him.

• Lu Ping rejected escape and questioned why the Zhao Household's ancestor had come after him.
• The ancestor revealed that Zhao Mingchuan was his son and Li Yuniang was his woman, and that their deaths had ruined his plan to prove the Dao by killing them.
• Lu Ping chose to face the ancestor's attack, but the man's green light shattered his shield and gravely wounded him.
• Jiang Mutian appeared from Lu Ping's ring and suppressed the ancestor's spiritual pressure.
• Jiang Mutian pierced the ancestor's chest and pulled his Nascent Soul from his body.

After Jiang Mutian’s Divine Sense killed the Zhao Household ancestor and shielded Lu Ping from a fatal blow, Wuming rescued him from the mountains. Lu Ping revealed his identity, and Wuming offered to take him to the Great Forest Temple to try to rebuild his damaged foundation; Lu Ping had not yet answered.

• Jiang Mutian’s Divine Sense shattered the Zhao Household ancestor’s Nascent Soul, and Lu Ping took the ancestor’s Storage Ring before losing consciousness.
• Wuming found Lu Ping after tracking him from Qingyang City and carried him to a cave, where Lu Ping awoke with a severely damaged foundation.
• Lu Ping told Wuming that he was Lu Ping, the Sect Master of the Greenwood Sect, and Wuming introduced himself as a monk from the Great Forest Temple in the Black Tortoise Domain.
• Wuming said a Secret Method at the Great Forest Temple might rebuild Lu Ping’s foundation and asked him to join the temple, leaving Lu Ping to choose how to respond.

Lu Ping refused Wuming’s offer to join the Great Forest Temple, and Wuming removed the Zhao Household’s blood curse before escorting him toward the Greenwood Sect. After nearly two months, Wuming gave Lu Ping three healing pills and invited him to visit the temple or become a monk.

• Lu Ping declined Wuming’s invitation to become a monk, and Wuming explained that the Zhao Household’s blood curse remained a danger.
• Wuming used his scripture and a peach blossom apparition to erase the blood curse from Lu Ping’s arm.
• After three days of rest, Lu Ping and Wuming traveled toward the Qingling Border Region while Lu Ping examined the Zhao Household patriarch’s treasures and recovered from his injuries.
• Wuming stopped near the Greenwood Mountain Range and gave Lu Ping three Peach Blossom Meridian-Calming Pills.
• Lu Ping accepted the pills and thanked Wuming, who invited him to visit the Great Forest Temple and take monastic vows.

Lu Ping returned to the Greenwood Sect, delegated its routine affairs, and began a long seclusion to recover from his injuries. He resisted refining the Zhao Household ancestor’s Law Treasure Pill Furnace and continued repairing his foundation as new Traits appeared.

• Lu Ping reunited with Xu Qingshi at the Greenwood Sect, praised his work, and ordered the sect to continue as usual while he secluded himself.
• Lu Ping inspected the Zhao Household ancestor’s Storage Ring and found the Moon Palace Fire-Devouring Furnace, but chose to postpone refining it because his Dao foundation was damaged.
• Lu Ping began a long-term seclusion, received the Second-Party Mindset Trait, and kept his existing Traits.
• Lu Ping took Peach Blossom Meridian-Calming Pills and cultivated the Azure Origin Dao Canon, gradually controlling the spread of his injuries as he received the Unemployment Insurance Trait.
• Lu Ping received the Workaholic Trait but declined to equip it, then devoted most of his attention to repairing his foundation and reached age thirty-four.

Lu Ping obtained I Love Working, which counteracted Salty Fish’s efficiency penalty and helped him stabilize his Dantian injury while advancing his cultivation. Si Wangshu arrived with a new Si Clan assessment task and asked him for a Pill Formula that could improve Spirit Root quality, leaving him to choose how to respond.

• Lu Ping rejected several workplace-themed Traits before accepting I Love Working at age forty and replacing two of his equipped Traits.
• With I Love Working, Overtime, Artisan Spirit, and Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement working together, Lu Ping increased his pill production and stopped the crack in his Dantian from spreading.
• Lu Ping returned to the peak of the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, while his detailed account reviews kept Greenwood Sect’s stewards cautious.
• Si Wangshu arrived at the Greenwood Sect as a Golden Core cultivator and asked Lu Ping for a Pill Formula that could improve Spirit Root quality for her new Si Clan assessment.
• Lu Ping considered whether to deny knowing such a method, trade his perfected Heaven-Mending Minor Restoration Pill for a favor, or suggest replacing the Si Clan’s assessment system.

Lu Ping traded the Heaven-Mending Minor Restoration Pill Formula to Si Wangshu for help finding the Severed-Fate Hehuan Powder Formula and received two supreme-grade poison formulas as an advance payment. He began refining the Moon Palace Fire-Devouring Furnace so he could safely study the poisons, and after nine months its fire pattern started resonating with his Southern Bright Separation Fire.

• Lu Ping gave Si Wangshu the Heaven-Mending Minor Restoration Pill Formula and asked her to find the Severed-Fate Hehuan Powder Formula so he could derive an antidote for someone who had been poisoned.
• Si Wangshu agreed to search for the formula, warned Lu Ping about the danger surrounding the poison, and gave him the Spirit-Chaos Lure and Spirit-Winding Thread formulas as an advance payment.
• Lu Ping obtained the ingredients for the two supreme-grade poisons through Shen Yuerong's channels but decided not to risk refining them with his old Pill Furnace.
• Lu Ping chose to refine the Moon Palace Fire-Devouring Furnace, using a Peach Blossom Meridian-Calming Pill and his work-related abilities to withstand its resistance.
• Over nine months, Lu Ping nurtured and marked the Law Treasure furnace until its Fire-Swallowing Pattern began resonating with his Southern Bright Separation Fire.

Lu Ping refined two top-grade poisons and reformed the Greenwood Sect’s finances by granting disciples stipends, fairer prices, discounts, and debt protections. His show of force won compliance, while Qian Dafu and Xu Qingshi helped address the sect’s looming revenue shortfall; six months later, output began to recover.

• Lu Ping completed the Moon Palace Fire-Devouring Furnace despite aggravating the cracks in his Dantian, then refined twelve portions each of Spirit-Chaos Lure and Spirit-Winding Thread.
• After reviewing the sect accounts, Lu Ping summoned the hall stewards and elders and announced new stipends, marketplace prices for goods, purchase discounts, lower loan interest, and a ban on maiming debtors.
• Lu Ping used Bully at Home to silence objections, and Xu Qingshi accepted the new regulations for distribution.
• Qian Dafu and Xu Qingshi warned Lu Ping that the sect’s accounts would run short in a year and a half, then left to consider new revenue sources.
• Six months later, the Greenwood Sect’s output began to recover, and Lu Ping reached age forty-two.

Lu Ping improved life for the Greenwood Sect’s low-level disciples by developing Meridian-Clearing Pills, while continuing to cultivate and raising his Black-Feather Fire Crow to Foundation Establishment. After reaching Foundation Establishment Perfection, he discovered his damaged Dao foundation made surviving the Golden Core heavenly tribulation unlikely, leaving him to choose whether to keep repairing it or risk a breakthrough.

• Lu Ping chose to distribute Meridian-Clearing Pills inside the Greenwood Sect, and the pills improved disciples’ cultivation while reducing loans, deaths, and bad debts.
• Lu Ping gained Excel Proficiency but kept his existing Trait, then cultivated the Southern Bright Li Fire Scripture to its second layer.
• Lu Ping raised the Black-Feather Fire Crow to Foundation Establishment and prepared to send it out to earn money.
• Lu Ping reached Foundation Establishment Perfection but stopped attempting core formation when his damaged Dantian caused a tearing sensation.
• Lu Ping realized he might survive forming his core but probably could not withstand the Golden Core heavenly tribulation, and he considered repairing his Dao foundation, forcing a breakthrough, or selling the Yellow Fang Pill.

Lu Ping chose to give the Meridian-Clearing Pill formula to Si Wangshu, trusting her to protect the Greenwood Sect from the consequences of its wider distribution. She gave him the Severed-Fate Hehuan Powder formula in return, and the chapter ended with Lu Ping gaining the A-grade Trait I'll Make Three Points.

• Lu Ping obtained the Soul Searching Technique, earned his Third-Grade Alchemist Certificate, and continued developing the Meridian-Clearing Pill as the Greenwood Sect's disciples advanced.
• Lu Ping's foundation remained damaged despite years of repair, while his Black-Feather Fire Crow reached Foundation Establishment Perfection.
• Si Wangshu visited the Greenwood Sect and asked Lu Ping for a Pill Formula that could speed the cultivation of lower-level Qi Refining cultivators.
• Lu Ping handed Si Wangshu the Meridian-Clearing Pill formula and its trial records, and she warned that distributing it widely would offend many people.
• Si Wangshu gave Lu Ping the Severed-Fate Hehuan Powder formula and said the Si Clan would handle the Meridian-Clearing Pill and offer the Azure Cloud Sect a more profitable cooperation proposal.
• Lu Ping gained the A-grade Trait I'll Make Three Points.

Lu Ping replaced Friend of Women with the A-grade control Trait I'll Make Three Points, then was summoned by the Azure Cloud Sect to aid Demon-Severing Cliff. He handed the Greenwood Sect leadership to Qian Dafu and traveled south, where he learned that a million demons were gathering at the front line.

• Lu Ping replaced Friend of Women with I'll Make Three Points and resolved to keep surviving and collect more Traits.
• The Azure Cloud Sect summoned Lu Ping to Demon-Severing Cliff, and he chose to obey rather than fight the Nascent Soul executive.
• Lu Ping entrusted the Greenwood Sect to Qian Dafu, told Xu Qingshi to assist him, and gave both of them supplies before departing.
• Lu Ping boarded the Azure Cloud Sect's flying boat with more than two hundred Foundation Establishment Sect Masters bound for the front line.
• Zhuang Feili warned Lu Ping that a million demons were gathering and that many Sect Masters would likely be sent into battle, leaving Lu Ping to consider his options.

Lu Ping arrived at the battlefield at Demon-Severing Cliff and was assigned to the Third Medicine Camp after revealing his skill in refining a top-grade poison. He received a temporary wartime Fourth-Level Alchemist's license and was led toward the camp, where a new set of options appeared.

• Lu Ping reached the Qingyang Domain assembly point and learned that ten thousand cultivators had been conscripted from the Azure Yang Central Region.
• At Demon-Severing Cliff, Lu Ping witnessed a deserter executed and chose to obey orders rather than volunteer for the front lines.
• A Nascent Soul cultivator discovered Lu Ping's alchemist registration, and Lu Ping demonstrated his top-grade poison, Spirit-Chaos Lure.
• The Nascent Soul cultivator assigned Lu Ping to the Third Medicine Camp and granted him a temporary wartime Fourth-Level Alchemist's license.
• Lu Ping followed a camp clerk past the Demon-Suppressing Tower toward the Third Medicine Camp, where the system presented him with new options.

Lu Ping challenged Steward Liang’s attempt to assign him routine pill-making, demonstrated the danger of his Spirit-Chaos Lure, and secured a private chamber and a quota to refine it. After settling in, he discovered the medicine camp had abundant materials, including ingredients for Severed-Fate Hehuan Powder.

• Steward Liang questioned Lu Ping’s wartime fourth-grade certification and ordered him to refine thirty Ward-Off-Poison Pills a day.
• Lu Ping briefly released Spirit-Chaos Lure, disrupting Steward Liang’s Spiritual Power and alarming nearby Alchemists.
• The Third Medicine Camp commander confirmed Lu Ping’s certification, reprimanded Steward Liang, and warned Lu Ping against using poison in camp without permission.
• The commander assigned Lu Ping Alchemy Chamber B-Seven and authorized him to refine one batch of Spirit-Chaos Lure daily, with reduced quotas for other pills.
• Lu Ping inspected the camp’s generous medicinal-materials catalog and found ingredients for Severed-Fate Hehuan Powder.

Lu Ping became known as Poison Master Lu after Spirit-Chaos Lure proved effective against the Demon Race, then used his military merit to obtain ingredients for Severed-Fate Hehuan Powder. He tested the poison on himself, discovered its effects and completed an antidote formula, but an uproar shook the camp before he could learn what was happening.

• Lu Ping refined Spirit-Chaos Lure, and reports of its success against demons earned him the name Poison Master Lu.
• Chen Zhao approved Lu Ping’s ingredient request, including Yin-Yang Love-Tribulation Flower, while warning him not to violate military discipline.
• Lu Ping refined Severed-Fate Hehuan Powder and chose to test it on himself rather than hand it over or use it on someone else.
• The poison damaged Lu Ping’s deficient Dao foundation, but he analyzed its effects and completed an antidote formula led by Mind-Cleansing Jade Lotus.
• Lu Ping considered visiting Wuming at the Great Forest Temple after the war, then heard an uproar as heaven and earth shook outside the camp.

Lu Ping helped the Third Medicine Camp retreat after a hidden Heavenly Demon broke Demon-Severing Cliff’s grand array. Song Fuan appeared, killed the unexpected tenth Demon Emperor, and Lu Ping’s Black-Feather Fire Crow flew toward the creature’s remaining true fire as options appeared.

• Lu Ping chose to investigate Demon-Severing Cliff and saw that the Demon-Suppressing Tower was gone as the array failed and a Heavenly Demon rampaged inside the cliffs.
• Lu Ping used Spirit-Chaos Lure to slow attacking Demon Beasts, helping routed soldiers reach the Third Medicine Camp, while Chen Zhao ordered a retreat and Lu Ping covered the rear.
• The grand array collapsed, but Song Fuan returned with the damaged Demon-Suppressing Tower and killed the hidden Heavenly Demon with two punches.
• The Red Heaven Demon Emperor identified the slain being as the Cunwu Demon Emperor, revealing that the Myriad Demon Domain had a previously unknown tenth Demon Emperor.
• The Black-Feather Fire Crow flew toward the fallen Cunwu Demon Emperor’s true fire without Lu Ping’s control, and options appeared for what he should do.

Lu Ping chose to let the Black-Feather Fire Crow consume the golden-red true fire, triggering a struggle with the Jinwu Remnant Soul in his sea of consciousness. As the Demon-Suppressing Tower held off the Demon Emperors outside, Lu Ping devoured the remnant soul and gained Sun True Fire, transforming the Fire Crow into a Red Fire Crow Prototype.

• Lu Ping chose to let the Black-Feather Fire Crow collide with and consume the golden-red true fire, causing the Fire Crow to burst apart and reform as its seed in his Dantian.
• The Jinwu Remnant Soul invaded Lu Ping’s sea of consciousness and tried to seize his body, but Salty Fish’s effect kept Lu Ping’s soul from being broken.
• The Fire Crow Seed joined Lu Ping against the Jinwu Remnant Soul as Song Fuan and the Demon-Suppressing Tower resisted the nine Demon Emperors’ assault outside.
• The Jinwu Remnant Soul offered Lu Ping an inheritance and Sun True Fire, but he and the Fire Crow continued devouring it until he uncovered how Jinwu had used transformed cultivators as anchors for an avatar.
• Lu Ping completely devoured the Jinwu Remnant Soul and fed its remaining Sun True Fire to the Fire Crow Seed, which transformed into a Red Fire Crow Prototype.

Song Fuan sacrificed himself to kill four demon emperors and hold back the demon tide at Demon-Severing Cliff. After he vanished and the Demon-Suppressing Tower’s final barrier broke, a million demons surged through the defenders’ last line.

• The Fire Crow Seed devoured Chunwu’s remnant soul, while Song Fuan drove back the Red Heaven Demon Emperor and killed him with the Demon-Suppressing Tower.
• Lu Ping and Chen Zhao fought serpent demons as the remnants of the Third Medicine Camp retreated north without receiving a response to their request for support.
• Song Fuan killed the Li Yuan Demon Emperor, then dragged the Lu Wu Demon Emperor into the array fire and destroyed him as well.
• The six remaining demon emperors fled, leaving the Demon Race army to continue attacking the human defenders.
• Song Fuan vanished as the Demon-Suppressing Tower’s fragments formed a final barrier, but it shattered in fewer than a hundred breaths and a million demons surged through.

Lu Ping helped the remnants of the Third Medicine Camp break through the demon tide, then returned to save Chen Zhao from a crimson-marked tiger demon. Chen Zhao killed the tiger demon with a self-sacrificing attack and passed command of the survivors to Lu Ping before he died.

• Lu Ping scattered poisons into the wind and led the wounded north while Chen Zhao ordered the combat cultivators to cover the rear.
• The crimson-marked tiger demon provoked the alchemists into fleeing, then attacked Chen Zhao as he tried to stop them.
• Lu Ping chose to turn back, restrained the tiger demon with Spirit-Winding Thread, and pierced its demon mark with the Fire-Separation Finger.
• Lu Ping and Chen Zhao brought down the tiger demon, but other Core Formation demons attacked and overwhelmed Chen Zhao.
• Chen Zhao gave Lu Ping the military command token, ignited his Nascent Soul, and killed the crimson-marked tiger demon and the demons around him before he died.

Lu Ping formed an Immaculate Golden Core in the middle of a battlefield by reversing a demonic pill method and sacrificing his life force to mend his damaged foundation. His Golden Core was complete, but his life flame dimmed as heavenly tribulation loomed.

• Lu Ping took command of the Third Medicine Camp survivors and drove the demon forces back before an eagle-headed great Transformation Stage demon arrived and slaughtered the remaining humans.
• With only a few Spirit Stones left and the demon army surrounding him, Lu Ping chose to form a core and bring down heavenly tribulation rather than surrender or seek employment.
• Lu Ping used I'll Make Three Points to freeze the demons, swallowed the Yellow Fang Pill, and began forming a Golden Core despite the old crack in his Dantian.
• Lu Ping reversed the Blood-Congealing Five-Elements Pill method, refined demon blood into Qi and Blood, and used his life force to fill the flaw in his Golden Core.
• Lu Ping completed a smooth, flawless Immaculate Golden Core, but his life flame abruptly dimmed.

Lu Ping used the Golden Core tribulation to wipe out the demon tide and wound the eagle-headed greater demon, then endured the final lightning wave and passed the tribulation. His Immaculate Golden Core shattered and his body dissipated before he could retrieve the antidote formula, while thunder continued after the clouds cleared.

• Lu Ping chose to throw his remaining Spirit Stones at the eagle-headed greater demon, then pierced its heart with Southern Bright Separation Fire as the second tribulation wave struck.
• The second wave devastated the battlefield, leaving Lu Ping and the weakened greater demon alive amid scorched earth and corpses.
• Lu Ping formed an Immaculate Golden Core, but cracks spread across it as it absorbed the cost of his debts.
• Lu Ping recalled Qian Dafu, Xu Qingshi, Si Wangshu, Wuming Mountain Temple, and Song Fuan before the third tribulation wave fell.
• Lu Ping survived the third wave and passed the Golden Core tribulation, but his Golden Core shattered and his body dissipated before he could touch his Storage Ring.
• The tribulation clouds dispersed, but thunder continued as though the Heavenly Dao were scolding a thief who had stolen its credit.