Chapter Summaries

Wang Chen searched Profound Meaning Daoist’s Sumeru Ring and found a fortune in Spirit Stones, valuable cultivation supplies, and three spiritual artifacts, including one he chose to keep. Letters hidden in the ring unsettled him, and he left his cultivation chamber to continue the mission with Zuo Xiaomo, despite failing to recruit many cultivators.

• Wang Chen counted 13,507 Medium Spirit Stones and thirty-nine High Spirit Stones in Profound Meaning Daoist’s Sumeru Ring.
• Wang Chen found Purple Essence Pills, Talismans, a portable high-grade composite spirit formation, and three spiritual artifacts.
• Wang Chen erased Profound Meaning Daoist’s restrictions on the Five Dragon Flame Fire Cover, learned how to use it, and decided to keep it along with the Purple Lightning Flying Boat and Soul-Dropping Rope.
• Wang Chen discovered letters in a jade box, became grave after reading them, and hid the Sumeru Ring and Life-Giving Creation Cauldron against his chest.
• Wang Chen told Zuo Xiaomo that he had failed to break through and asked how many cultivators he had recruited for the mission.
• Zuo Xiaomo said he had recruited only a few suitable cultivators and that one had run off.

Wang Chen presented evidence that Garrison Commander Ji Yongtai had colluded with horse bandits, and the West Sea Sect’s Law Enforcement Department arrived to arrest him. Ji Yongtai confessed after Wang Chen produced Profound Meaning Daoist’s corpse, but pleaded for his family to be spared.

• Ji Yongtai encouraged Wang Chen and Zuo Xiaomo after their setbacks and offered Zuo Xiaomo Battle Cultivators to help against the horse bandits.
• Li Feiyuan and two Purple Mansion cultivators stormed the Garrison Headquarters and demanded to know which one was Wang Chen.
• Wang Chen identified himself and handed Li Feiyuan the letters he had found.
• Li Feiyuan accused Ji Yongtai of colluding with Profound Meaning Daoist, and Wang Chen produced the bandit leader’s corpse as proof.
• Ji Yongtai denied the charges until Li Feiyuan revealed that the headquarters had been taken over and its defenders killed.
• Ji Yongtai knelt, confessed his guilt, and asked Li Feiyuan to spare his wives and children.

Wang Chen helped resolve Ji Yongtai’s collusion with Profound Meaning Daoist, then took temporary command of Northwatch City while waiting for the Outer Sect assessment. He entered seclusion and advanced the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma to Level 6, where a violent transformation began tearing his body apart.

• Ji Yongtai confessed to cooperating with Profound Meaning Daoist and signed his confession in blood, while Li Feiyuan agreed to spare his family.
• Wang Chen gave Li Feiyuan Profound Meaning Daoist’s Storage Bag, and Li promised to claim merit for him.
• Li Feiyuan departed after appointing Wang Chen temporary Garrison Commander of Northwatch City, and Wang Chen placed Zuo Xiaomo in charge of the headquarters.
• Wang Chen learned that Ji Yongtai had died by suicide and that his family had been stripped of their Spiritual Roots and sent away.
• Wang Chen entered seclusion, used Vajra Butter and Spirit Strengthening Pills, and advanced the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma to Level 6.
• Wang Chen’s body began tearing apart as the Vajra Indestructible breakthrough erupted.

Wang Chen survived the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma’s breakthrough tribulation and reached the sixth level, gaining a major increase in Physique and mastering the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palm. After consolidating his realm, he left Northwatch City with Zuo Xiaomo to return to the sect for the upcoming Outer Sect assessment.

• The Primordial Dao Stele suppressed the rampaging Heavenly Dragon True Form in Wang Chen’s Sea of Consciousness, allowing him to break through to Vajra Indestructible.
• Wang Chen discovered his Physique had risen from 15 to 20, tested his greatly improved defenses and recovery, and gained the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palm.
• Wang Chen spent two days consolidating his realm until his hair and eyebrows grew back, then emerged from seclusion to speak with Zuo Xiaomo.
• Wang Chen told Zuo Xiaomo to cultivate in seclusion for the Outer Sect assessment while he handled Northwatch City’s duties.
• After the new Garrison Commander arrived and Wang Chen completed the handover, Wang Chen and Zuo Xiaomo set out for the sect.

Wang Chen traveled with Zuo Xiaomo to the Nine Dragon Underground Palace for the Outer Sect examination, lending him a spiritual artifact for protection. At the crowded entrance, Zuo Xiaomo reunited with Junior Sister Ling Shan, drawing even more hostile attention toward them.

• Wang Chen defeated Zuo Xiaomo at Heavenly Mechanism Chess and lent him the Five Dragon Flame Fire Cover to use in the underground palace.
• Zuo Xiaomo devoted the rest of their journey to refining the artifact and resolved to pass the examination so he could repay Wang Chen.
• Wang Chen and Zuo Xiaomo arrived at the Ruined City, where Outer Sect disciples and their Purple Mansion protectors had gathered for the examination.
• Junior Sister Ling Shan appeared and greeted Zuo Xiaomo, while Wang Chen stepped aside to give them space.
• The hostile gazes directed at Wang Chen and Zuo Xiaomo multiplied when Ling Shan joined them.

Wang Chen and Zuo Xiaomo entered the Nine Dragon Underground Palace for the Outer Sect assessment, but Wang Chen was teleported to an unmapped area alone. Unable to contact Zuo Xiaomo or locate himself on the survey map, he realized he would have to find his own way back.

• Lu Lingshan gave Zuo Xiaomo a Storage Bag and wished him well before the assessment disciples entered the underground palace.
• Wang Chen and Zuo Xiaomo reached the Nine Dragon Grand Hall and used its Teleportation Array to travel to the second level.
• Wang Chen emerged in a desolate, unmapped region and discovered that Zuo Xiaomo was nowhere nearby.
• Wang Chen tried to contact Zuo Xiaomo with a message talisman and the Yaoguang Sword, but neither worked.
• Wang Chen activated his survey map, found that it could not locate him, and concluded he was in an unexplored area.

Separated from Zuo Xiaomo in the Nine Dragon Underground Palace, Wang Chen explored an unfamiliar region and tested its restrictive effects on flight and magic. He discovered valuable Star-Shattering Grass, killed a black snake that ambushed him, and gained Human Virtue.

• Wang Chen worried about Zuo Xiaomo but decided the other man would have to survive the assessment on his own.
• Wang Chen surveyed the endless hills and found that spatial suppression prevented flight and weakened spells, Talismans, and Magic Tools.
• Wang Chen discovered that his Omnidirectional Compass could not find a direction, so he chose a route and continued exploring.
• Wang Chen spotted five mature stalks of Star-Shattering Grass beside a dark pool and approached them.
• A black snake sprang from the pool, but Wang Chen struck it with his fist and finished it with the Crimson Lion Sword, gaining 126 Human Virtue.

Wang Chen explored the Nine Dragon Underground Palace, collecting spirit herbs and fighting its monsters before taking shelter in an abandoned village. As he tried to rest inside a protected stone house, black tentacles seeped beneath the door and disturbed his defensive array.

• Wang Chen killed a black snake guarding six mature Star-Shattering Grass plants and gathered them carefully.
• Wang Chen traveled through the hills for several days, fighting hidden monsters and gathering spiritual materials without finding an exit.
• Wang Chen discovered an abandoned village, spared a fleeing weasel-like monster, and prepared a stone house as a shelter.
• Wang Chen activated his array plate, replenished his mana, and settled down to rest.
• Wang Chen sensed his defensive array being disturbed and saw black tentacles reach beneath the stone door as an Evil Spirit's Yin Evil aura chilled the room.

Wang Chen harvested hundreds of Evil Spirits in the desolate village to replenish the spiritual power of the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil. When a giant Evil Monster attacked, he wounded it with the Crimson Ni Sword and immobilized it with Talismans.

• Wang Chen opened the stone door and found the desolate village surrounded by hundreds of Evil Spirits.
• Wang Chen repeatedly cast the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, devouring the Evil Spirits and replenishing the net's spiritual power.
• Wang Chen used the net's Heavenly Net power to draw in Evil Spirits from across the village.
• A giant Evil Monster attacked Wang Chen from the dark clouds, and Wang Chen pierced its claw with the Crimson Ni Sword.
• Wang Chen dodged the Evil Monster's harpoon, then immobilized it with Talismans.

Wang Chen defeated a Black Grudge-grade Evil Monster and spent more than half a month fighting Evil Spirits across abandoned settlements in the Nine Dragon Underground Palace. He reached a ruined city and spotted firelight in a temple, suggesting someone might be there.

• Wang Chen used Evil-Quelling Talismans, the Crimson Lion Sword, and the Mystic Fire Flying Crow Technique to defeat the Black Grudge-grade Evil Monster and capture its blood spheres with the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil.
• Wang Chen found a high-grade Yin Qi Bead beneath the monster's fur and rested in an abandoned house before continuing on.
• Wang Chen crossed abandoned villages, killed Evil Spirits to improve his techniques, and collected many Yin Qi Beads.
• Wang Chen emerged from the hills after more than half a month and saw a ruined city whose former inhabitants had apparently suffered a calamity.
• Wang Chen spotted firelight inside a temple in the city's southeastern district and hurried toward the city.

Wang Chen found a City God Temple in the deserted city and waited beside its bonfire, only to discover the fire had been bait for an ambush. He resisted the Bewitching Immortal Incense and countered the attackers, leaving the one-armed cultivator badly maimed.

• Wang Chen found the City God Temple and carefully searched its empty hall, where he discovered a bonfire and scattered travel supplies.
• Wang Chen added firewood and rested beside the bonfire, but Bewitching Immortal Incense made him appear to fall asleep.
• Three ragged cultivators entered the hall, and the female cultivator attacked Wang Chen with a silver hairpin.
• Wang Chen deflected the hairpin and revealed that the incense had not affected him, then explained that his Vajra Indestructible Body resisted poisons.
• The one-armed cultivator charged Wang Chen while the scar-faced cultivator used a talisman and the female cultivator launched hidden darts.
• Wang Chen met the one-armed cultivator's punch with his palm, rupturing the man's fist and mangling his arm.

Wang Chen killed the Qinghe siblings after they ambushed him, then confronted Yang Yi, a Purple Mansion cultivator who claimed to be trapped in the Nine Dragon Underground Palace. As Yang Yi described his arrival and asked about Wang Chen’s own, Wang Chen revealed that he had noticed something suspicious about the wine and regarded the old man as an enemy.

• Wang Chen’s Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palm crippled the one-armed cultivator, while his Resplendent Shield Armor blocked the female cultivator’s poisoned needles.
• The female cultivator and scar-faced cultivator fled, but Wang Chen’s Crimson Ni Sword killed them both and earned him Heavenly Merit.
• Wang Chen called out the hidden observer, and Yang Yi entered the hall, claiming he had only watched the fight out of curiosity.
• Yang Yi cleared the corpses, shared spirit wine with Wang Chen, and said he had been trapped in an unexplored area of the Nine Dragon Underground Palace for over half a year.
• Yang Yi asked whether Wang Chen knew how to return, and Wang Chen suggested that the poison had not taken effect on him before fixing the old cultivator with a hostile gaze.

Wang Chen resisted Yang Yi’s poisons and survived the Purple Mansion cultivator’s deadly soul attack, then pursued and killed him inside the Nine Dragon Underground Palace. The chapter ended with Wang Chen claiming the Heavenly Merit from Yang Yi’s death.

• Wang Chen sensed Yang Yi’s concealed malice and realized the old cultivator had secretly poisoned him, but his Vajra Indestructible Body rendered the poison useless.
• Yang Yi attacked Wang Chen with his Soul Annihilation Thorn, but Wang Chen shattered it with the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palm and sent Yang Yi crashing into the temple.
• Yang Yi summoned black-mist skulls and fled with Blood Evasion Art, while Wang Chen’s Flying Sword pierced him and drove him into a stone house.
• Wang Chen finished the wounded Yang Yi with the Crimson Lion Sword and received 500 Heavenly Merit.

After defeating Yang Yi and his subordinates, Wang Chen searched their Storage Bags and discovered a strange sealed jade before preparing a meal in the City God Temple. As a living City God statue attacked him, Wang Chen caught its mace but faced a second strike.

• Wang Chen burned the corpses and used Talismans to send the dead souls onward.
• Wang Chen found little in the Qinghe siblings’ Storage Bags, then destroyed Yang Yi’s restricted bags to prevent harm.
• A jade box survived the destruction of Yang Yi’s Storage Bag, and Wang Chen placed it in his Sumeru Ring for later investigation.
• Wang Chen roasted a Long-Horned Spirit Sheep leg in the City God Temple.
• The City God statue attacked Wang Chen with its mace, and he caught the blow before it stomped at him.

Wang Chen was trapped inside the City God Temple with a powerful City God statue and fought to survive after his sword proved ineffective. He trapped the statue in a mud pit and tried using Turn Stone to Mud on its head.

• The City God statue sealed the temple in an invisible cage, preventing Wang Chen from escaping.
• Wang Chen attacked with the Crimson Ni Sword, but the statue blocked and damaged it, forcing him to recall it.
• Wang Chen broke free from the statue's gravity-like restraint and dodged beneath its mace.
• Wang Chen used Turn Stone to Mud to transform the floor into a deep pit, sinking the statue to its waist.
• As the statue tried to pull itself free, Wang Chen struck its head and cast Turn Stone to Mud again.

Wang Chen destroyed the City God statue by disrupting its core with a Spirit-Focusing Beam and then shattering its body. A stone door marked “Treasure Pavilion” rose where the statue had stood, revealing the next destination.

• Wang Chen and the City God statue fought a draining stalemate as he used the Evil-Exorcising Net’s stored spiritual energy to sustain Turn Stone to Mud.
• Wang Chen used the Cave Truth Technique to locate the statue’s earth-yellow core and struck it with a Spirit-Focusing Beam, disrupting its power.
• Wang Chen poured his strength into the statue’s head, split open its shell, and broke its body apart with a final strike.
• Wang Chen retrieved the heavy earth-yellow crystal from the wreckage and realized it was his reward for defeating the mechanical puppet.
• A bronze-colored stone door rose from the ground and displayed the True Script Runes “Treasure Pavilion.”

Wang Chen chose the white jade box as his reward in the Nine Dragon Underground Palace and was transported back to the Nine Dragon Grand Hall. He reunited with Zuo Xiaomo in Myriad Spirit City and learned that the teleportation array had scattered the protectors and disciples; Wang Chen still wanted to know how long he had been missing.

• Wang Chen used the earth-yellow crystal and the jade Yang Yi had given him to open the stone door and enter a secret chamber with three reward choices.
• Wang Chen chose the white jade box after the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron reacted to it, then was transported back to the Nine Dragon Grand Hall.
• Wang Chen hid the box from the greedy onlookers, left the hall, and flew to Myriad Spirit City after sending a message talisman.
• Wang Chen met Zuo Xiaomo at the Xu family residence and learned that the teleportation array had sent the protectors and disciples to an unknown area where they faced monsters and Evil Spirits.
• Zuo Xiaomo told Wang Chen that the returned disciples had passed the assessment and that he had become an official Outer Sect disciple of the West Sea Sect.
• Wang Chen asked Zuo Xiaomo how long he had been missing.

After reuniting with Xu Xinlan, Wang Chen gave her Face-Fixing Pills and strengthened his Physique and Divine Soul with Heavenly Merit. He then opened the jade box from the Treasure Pavilion to investigate its resonance with the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron.

• Xu Xinlan told Wang Chen how worried she had been during his disappearance and described her progress in cultivation.
• Wang Chen gave Xu Xinlan Peiyuan Pills, Qi-Uniting Pills, and three bottles of Face-Fixing Pills, which she decided to share with Xiao Dai and Xiao Yu.
• Xu Xinlan called Xiao Dai and Xiao Yu into the room, and the three women later fell asleep after spending time with Wang Chen.
• Wang Chen spent 2,000 points of Heavenly Merit to raise his Physique and Divine Soul to 21, healing injuries and sharpening his senses.
• Wang Chen took out the jade box from the Treasure Pavilion to discover what resonated with the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron.

Wang Chen discovered that the jade box contained Great Sun True Fire, a priceless Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire, and fed it into the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron. The cauldron began transforming after consuming a vast quantity of Medium Spirit Stones, but it remained sealed with only one Unsealing Point left to gain.

• Wang Chen opened the jade box with mana and revealed a flame he identified as Great Sun True Fire.
• Wang Chen realized the flame was too dangerous to keep exposed and activated the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron, which had resonated with the jade box.
• Wang Chen strained to move the Great Sun True Fire into the cauldron, triggering a crimson-gold blaze and the cauldron's transformation.
• The Life-Giving Creation Cauldron demanded Medium Spirit Stones as firewood, so Wang Chen fed it most of his stored stones.
• The cauldron's Unsealing Points climbed to 999999/1000000, leaving it one point short of unsealing.

Wang Chen fully unsealed the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron, awakening its Artifact Spirit, Little Cauldron, and learned that the Yellow-grade treasure could craft, repair, and strengthen magical items. He negotiated Little Cauldron down to a thirty-Medium-Spirit-Stone fee to repair his Crimson Ni Sword.

• Wang Chen spent 1 point of Human Virtue to remove the cauldron’s final seal, causing its Artifact Spirit to manifest as a child named Little Cauldron.
• Little Cauldron gave Wang Chen knowledge of the Cauldron Control Method and the cauldron’s origins and functions, though his cultivation limited him to its Yellow grade.
• Wang Chen asked Little Cauldron to repair his Crimson Ni Sword, but it demanded five hundred Medium Spirit Stones.
• Wang Chen began shrinking the cauldron to resist Little Cauldron’s price, and Little Cauldron repeatedly lowered its demand.
• Wang Chen accepted Little Cauldron’s final price of thirty Medium Spirit Stones and ordered it to repair the sword.