Chapter Summaries

Wang Chen returned to Daying City after surviving an ambush by a Golden Core meditation master from the Western Regions Buddhist sect, and he provided evidence to Kou Shihai. The West Sea Sect dispatched three Golden Core True Persons to investigate, and Wang Chen recounted the attack and presented his Imprint Stone.

• Wang Chen emerged from hiding after three days and returned safely to Daying City.
• Kou Shihai welcomed Wang Chen and learned that a Golden Core meditation master had ambushed him.
• Wang Chen showed Kou Shihai an Imprint Stone recording the incident, and Kou Shihai reported it to the sect.
• The sect summoned Wang Chen to the General Celestial Master Prefecture, where he met Xianyun True Person, Changhe True Person, and Ziyang True Person.
• Wang Chen told the three True Persons how he had been trapped and teleported, then presented the Imprint Stone as evidence.

Wang Chen learned that the West Sea Sect planned to make the Buddhist Sect pay for Zen Master Fa Ming’s attempt to capture him, and the ensuing clash drove the Sand People away from Daying City. Before the sect delivered his reward, Wu Qianqian came to Wang Chen seeking his forgiveness to protect the Wu Family.

• Changhe True Person praised Wang Chen for escaping Fa Ming and told him the sect would give him an explanation.
• Changhe True Person, Xianyun True Person, and Ziyang True Person discussed Wang Chen’s merits and background before deciding to confront the Buddhist Sect over its actions.
• The West Sea Sect clashed with the Buddhist Sect, and the Sand Tribe suffered grievous losses before the conflict ended.
• Kou Shihai told Wang Chen that Daying City would be free of Sand People harassment for at least three to five years, while Changhe and the other True Persons returned to the sect.
• Wu Qianqian came to Wang Chen’s pavilion and offered herself in hopes of securing his forgiveness and saving the Wu Family.

Wang Chen secured a lenient outcome for the Wu Family and learned that the West Sea Sect had ordered him back to report on his duties. As he prepared to leave Daying City, he asked Kou Shihai to protect the Xi Family, and Kou agreed.

• Wu Qianqian sought Wang Chen's help, and he promised to testify that the Wu Family had not knowingly sheltered the Sand Tribe Locust Child.
• Wang Chen sent Kou Shihai his position on the case, then reassured Wu Qianqian with a letter after Kou indicated the Wu Family would receive only a light punishment.
• Wang Chen secluded himself while awaiting the sect's decision, and Wu Qianqian later left him a generous gift after the Wu Family was safe.
• Half a month after three Golden Core cultivators departed, Kou Shihai delivered the West Sea Sect's decree ordering Wang Chen to return immediately.
• Wang Chen asked Kou Shihai to look after the Xi Family when he left Daying City, and Kou promised to keep them safe while he remained in office.

Wang Chen returned to Myriad Spirit City with Meng Fei and the other children, planning to bring the most talented into the West Sea Sect and place the rest with the Xu family. He reunited with Xu Xinlan and promised that he would one day bring her with him to ascend, though he remained uncertain how to reach the upper realm.

• Wang Chen told Meng Fei that he planned to recommend him and his two sisters to the West Sea Sect first, and Meng Fei vowed to work hard and help his siblings join later.
• Wang Chen and the children traveled by airship for seven days and entered Myriad Spirit City.
• Wang Chen brought the children to the Xu family, where Xu Xinlan joyfully embraced him and welcomed them.
• Wang Chen explained that the talented children would enter the sect while those with poorer aptitudes would be raised by the Xu family, creating support for Xu Xinlan.
• Xu Xinlan asked whether Wang Chen would leave again, and he promised that one day they would stay together and ascend together.

Wang Chen met Changhe True Person, who offered him a chance to join the Changhe lineage by earning sufficient merits in a small world. Wang Chen chose the Yinming Realm and received half a month to prepare.

• Wang Chen met Changhe True Person at Zhouye Peak and agreed to give up his sect reward for the chance to enter the Changhe lineage.
• Changhe True Person explained that Wang Chen first had to earn enough merits by helping develop a small world.
• Changhe True Person sent Wang Chen information about three small worlds and let him choose one.
• Wang Chen chose the Yinming Realm despite its poor cultivation environment.
• Changhe True Person gave Wang Chen a jade talisman and half a month to prepare.

Wang Chen brought Meng Fei and his five siblings to Changhe True Person after discovering their exceptional Spiritual Root aptitudes. Changhe True Person took Meng Fei as his personal disciple, accepted his two six-pattern sisters into the sect, and rewarded Wang Chen with Primordial Violet Qi.

• Wang Chen told Changhe True Person that Meng Fei had an Eight-Pattern Spiritual Root and that his siblings also had remarkable aptitudes.
• Changhe True Person gave Wang Chen a Magic Treasure Flying Ship and ordered him to bring the children to Changhe Island.
• Changhe True Person tested the children, then offered to take Meng Fei as his personal disciple.
• Changhe True Person accepted Meng Fei's two younger sisters into his sect and allowed the other three siblings to cultivate on Changhe Island until they met the requirements to enter the lineage.
• Changhe True Person rewarded Wang Chen with a jade bottle containing Primordial Violet Qi for recommending the children.

Wang Chen entered the Yinming Realm with a wisp of pseudo-Primordial Violet Qi and joined a group of West Sea Sect disciples assigned to expand its territory. After arriving in Weifa City, they received orders to prepare for three days before heading to their assigned zones.

• Changhe True Person gave Wang Chen a wisp of pseudo-Primordial Violet Qi to support his cultivation in the Yinming Realm.
• Wang Chen set aside Spirit Stones, Pills, and Talismans for Xu Xinlan to support Meng Fei's younger siblings, then departed after parting with her.
• Wang Chen descended into the Yinming Realm alongside thirty-seven West Sea Sect disciples through the sect's grand formation.
• Bai Wuchang welcomed the disciples to the Town Guard Hall in Weifa City and led them outside, where they experienced the realm's freezing yin qi and bleak surroundings.
• Bai Wuchang ordered the disciples to spend three days in Weifa City before reporting to their assigned expansion zones.

Wang Chen and the other West Sea Sect disciples received supplies and randomly chose territories to develop in the Yinming Realm. After arriving in Weifa City, Wang Chen hired a disfigured boy as a guide and headed to an inn, leaving the boy surprised by his calm acceptance of the Yin Sha marks on his face.

• Bai Wuchang gave the thirty-eight disciples their first month of supplies, explained their duties and restrictions, and asked if anyone wanted to withdraw; no one did.
• Wang Chen drew the territory Wujiuwu, 1,370 li from Weifa City, and learned he had three days to prepare before setting up a guard station and clearing nearby Evil Spirits and Fiends.
• Bai Wuchang dismissed Wang Chen and the other disciples, and a crowd of prospective servants and attendants immediately surrounded them outside the hall.
• Wang Chen ignored the crowd and chose to learn about the city before recruiting subordinates, then hired a boy who offered to guide him for one lower spirit.
• When Wang Chen asked about the boy's covered face, the boy revealed blackish-purple marks; Wang Chen recognized possible Yin Sha entering the body, said it was fine, and gave him another Spirit Stone at the inn.

Wang Chen learned about Weifa City and the dangers of wilderness development in the Yinming Realm, then joined Mou Guangji’s Mutual Alliance Society. After spending two days gathering information, he set out alone for his assigned development region, Wujiuwu.

• Wang Chen met Mou Guangji and five other West Sea Sect disciples at the Immortal Guest Inn, where Mou Guangji invited him to join the Mutual Alliance Society.
• Wang Chen agreed to join the society, whose members shared information and traded supplies while preparing to support one another in the Yinming Realm.
• Wang Chen learned that cultivators faced Evil Spirits, demon entities, and bone-corroding Yin wind, and that they needed guard stations, defensive formations, and protective equipment.
• Wang Chen spent two days exploring Weifa City and learned that its native residents were descendants of West Sea Sect cultivators who could not leave the Yinming Realm.
• On the third day, Wang Chen set out alone for Wujiuwu without using a flying Magic Tool or sword flight, both of which were dangerous in the Yinming Realm.

Wang Chen reached his frontier territory, surveyed its dangers, and built a fortified residence on a rocky hill. He finished by spending three days digging an underground palace with secret passages and chambers.

• Wang Chen traveled beyond Weifa City through the dangerous wilderness and used the reception envoy's Jade Slip to reach territory Wujiuwu.
• Wang Chen surveyed the area and chose a high rocky hill far from the Blackwater River and marshland as his foothold.
• Wang Chen leveled the rock and activated the sect-issued mechanism house, building a five-story guard station.
• Wang Chen installed the formation, arranged the residence, and began digging underground for safety.
• Wang Chen spent three days excavating an underground palace with multiple secret passages and chambers.

Wang Chen secured his guard station in the Yinming Realm, mapped nearby Evil Spirits and Fiends, and coordinated with the Mutual Alliance Society. He began reclaiming land beneath a rocky hill and sowed Three Heroes Valley seeds across a new Spirit Field.

• Wang Chen dug a secret chamber beneath his guard station and used the Upper Clarity Qiankun Mirror to survey Evil Spirits and Fiends around the territory, stopping when his Divine Sense encountered a dangerous barrier in the mountains.
• Wang Chen marked the detected threats on his Domain Reclamation Token and received Mou Guangji’s message that the Mutual Alliance Society’s twenty-one members had reached their assigned territories.
• Wang Chen agreed to exchange talisman messages with nearby Mutual Alliance Society members and prepared to reclaim land for farming.
• Wang Chen left the guard station and used a spirit hoe and Mystic Fire Flying Crow to clear more than a hundred mu of land beneath the rocky hill.
• Wang Chen scattered tens of thousands of Three Heroes Valley seeds across the reclaimed Spirit Field.

Wang Chen planted grain and established a Black Iron Thorn defense around his Spirit Field in the Yinming Realm, then cultivated with Primordial Violet Qi. When demon spirits attacked the thriving crops, he destroyed them with lightning but gained no Human Virtue, leaving him uncertain whether killing Evil Spirits ever brought rewards.

• Wang Chen used the Spring Rain Fertilization Technique to sprout grain seeds and cultivated Black Iron Thorns into a barrier around the Spirit Field.
• Wang Chen planted warning scarecrows, returned to the guard station, and refined Primordial Violet Qi to strengthen his cultivation.
• Wang Chen tended the growing crops and received talisman messages from Mou Guangji while reflecting that the Yinming Realm's apparent peace might be deceptive.
• A scarecrow warned Wang Chen that several dozen boar-like demon spirits were charging through the Black Iron Thorns toward the Spirit Field.
• Wang Chen killed the attackers with Nine Heavens Divine Thunder and Lightning Strikes, but received no Human Virtue and wondered whether other Evil Spirits would yield rewards.

After a month of developing the Spirit Fields in the Yinming Realm, Wang Chen traveled to Weifa City to collect supplies and meet Mou Guangji at the Carefree Pavilion. The gathering ended with Wang Chen dismissing Senior Brother Chen’s contemptuous remarks about his Rogue Cultivator background.

• Wang Chen found that the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil converted demon spirits into abundant, pure spiritual energy, and he used it to protect the Spirit Fields.
• Over a month, Wang Chen planted more than three hundred mu of Three Heroes Valley, defended the fields from attacks, and accumulated two Yin Qi Beads.
• Wang Chen flew to Weifa City, collected supplies from the Sect Law Hall, and learned that future supplies would require exchanged resources.
• Mou Guangji invited Wang Chen to the Carefree Pavilion, where he joined more than a dozen members of the Mutual Alliance Society.
• Wang Chen declined the attendants, explaining that he cultivated a Buddhist body-refining technique, and Senior Brother Chen mocked his Rogue Cultivator background.
• Mou Guangji smoothed over the confrontation, and Wang Chen drank his spirit wine without taking offense.

At a banquet, Wang Chen declined to join Junior Brother Zhang’s search for a Cold Nether mine, wary of the risks and the other disciples’ contempt. Mou Guangji revealed that rumors about Wang Chen entering the Changhe lineage had sparked Junior Brother Chen’s dislike, and Wang Chen left after paying his share.

• Mou Guangji cleared the banquet room and had Junior Brother Zhang show the gathered disciples Cold Nether Grass he had found in the mountains.
• Junior Brother Zhang proposed that the disciples cooperate to search for a Cold Nether mineral deposit and divide any gains, prompting debate over the terms and risks.
• Wang Chen refused to join, saying his guard station kept him too busy, and Mou Guangji invited him outside to talk.
• Mou Guangji told Wang Chen that Junior Brother Chen resented him because rumors said he could enter Changhe True Person’s lineage by earning enough merit.
• Wang Chen denied that he could become Changhe True Person’s personal disciple, clarified that he might enter the lineage, then gave Mou Guangji ten middle-grade Spirit Stones and left.

Wang Chen expanded his Spirit Fields in the Yinming Realm, defended them from demon spirits, and harvested a huge crop of Three Heroes Valley grain. His ties with Mou Guangji and the Mutual Alliance Society grew distant, while his farming brought him merit and a harvest of over eighty thousand jin of rice.

• Wang Chen returned to his guard station and realized Mou Guangji had reduced his messages and excluded him from the Mutual Alliance Society.
• Wang Chen reclaimed more land and expanded his Three Heroes Valley Spirit Fields to over five hundred mu.
• Wang Chen used the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil to capture demon spirits attacking his fields and collected Yin Qi Beads from them.
• Wang Chen delivered Yin Qi Beads to the Sect Law Hall for supplies and merit, then hurried back without attending the Mutual Alliance Society's gathering.
• Wang Chen harvested over eighty thousand jin of rice from his Spirit Fields.

Wang Chen harvested his Three Heroes Valley, traded some of the Spirit Rice for supplies and a puppet Dao soldier, and prepared for a possible Yin Wind Tide. Yun Feifei visited to propose mutual support and buy Spirit Rice, leaving Wang Chen with a puppet servant and new information about the Mutual Alliance Society.

• Wang Chen harvested more than eighty thousand jin of rice from his Spirit Fields and traded half of his Three Ying Rice through the Sect Law Hall, exchanging the remainder for a Spiritual Artifact-grade puppet Dao soldier.
• After hearing that an Yin Wind Tide might soon strike, Wang Chen stopped planting Three Heroes Valley, bought supplies in Weifa City, and returned to his guard station.
• Yun Feifei visited Wang Chen and offered him a puppet servant, explaining that their nearby territories made mutual support useful.
• Yun Feifei asked to buy Spirit Rice, and Wang Chen traded five thousand jin for her puppet servant.
• While drinking tea with Yun Feifei, Wang Chen learned information about the Mutual Alliance Society.

As the Yin Wind Tide intensified, Wang Chen retreated into his guard station and then its deepest underground chamber. A fellow disciple whose guard station had been destroyed arrived outside and pleaded for help, leaving Wang Chen to decide how to respond.

• Yun Feifei warned Wang Chen that the Yin Wind Tide would stir up dangerous evil spirits.
• Wang Chen sensed the tide rising, withdrew to his guard station, and activated its protective array.
• After the howling wind disrupted his cultivation, Wang Chen moved into the underground secret chamber to wait out the tide.
• On the seventh day, Wang Chen received a plea through his Frontier-Reclamation Order from Chanyu Xin, whose guard station had been destroyed.
• Chanyu Xin reached the area outside Wang Chen's guard station and begged to be let in, and Wang Chen recognized that refusing him would violate sect rules.

Wang Chen sheltered Chanyu Xin at Wujiuwu, then discovered that an evil spirit had possessed him and was poisoning him. After destroying the spirit, Wang Chen gained 1,790 Human Virtue and considered whether killing possessed cultivators could provide a new source of it.

• Wang Chen admitted Chanyu Xin into the guard station and used the defensive formation to inspect him.
• Chanyu Xin explained that the Yin Wind Tide had overwhelmed his guard station and thanked Wang Chen for taking him in.
• Wang Chen revealed that he had noticed Chanyu Xin poisoning him, but his Vajra Indestructible Body had nullified the toxins.
• Wang Chen trapped Chanyu Xin with the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, exposing the evil spirit possessing him.
• Wang Chen weakened the evil spirit with the net and destroyed it with Nine Heavens Divine Thunder.
• Wang Chen received 1,790 Human Virtue and wondered whether killing cultivators possessed by evil spirits could provide more.

Wang Chen faced a group of white evil spirits that attacked his guard station with frost weapons, then killed them and captured five high-quality Yin Qi Beads. As he examined his spoils, a voice called him “Master” from within his Sea of Consciousness.

• Wang Chen watched white evil spirits gather in his Spirit Field and saw them bombard his guard station with frost arrows and ice balls.
• Wang Chen opened the gate to attack, discovered a transparent demon spirit trying to ambush him, and destroyed it with the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palm.
• Wang Chen swept away more than a dozen evil spirits with his palm strike and trapped the remaining spirits in the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil.
• Wang Chen returned to the guard station with five high-quality Yin Qi Beads, then heard a voice call him “Master” in his Sea of Consciousness.

Wang Chen learned that Purest Yin Qi Beads could be refined into Pure Yang Beads to aid his Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma, and agreed to let Little Cauldron help in exchange for an ordinary Yin Qi Bead. After waiting unsuccessfully for White Specters, he made Blood Crystals from his own blood to use as bait and begin hunting them.

• Little Cauldron explained that nine Purest Yin Qi Beads could be refined into a First-Turn Pure Yang Bead, which could help Wang Chen cultivate his body-refining technique.
• Wang Chen agreed to give Little Cauldron an ordinary Yin Qi Bead as payment for helping refine Pure Yang Beads.
• Wang Chen waited half a month for White Specters to appear but saw none.
• Little Cauldron suggested luring Evil Spirits with Life Essence, so Wang Chen used it to refine two Blood Crystals from his blood.