Chapter Summaries

Wang Chen met Hu Jiao, a fox demon from Green Hill who preferred cooked food, and shared Beggar’s Chicken with it. As they ate and talked, Hu Jiao offered Wang Chen a drink from its purple gourd.

• Wang Chen recognized that his visitor was a demon and learned that it liked cooked food rather than raw or blood food.
• Wang Chen prepared Beggar’s Chicken for the demon, and they introduced themselves as Wang Chen of Yongle Immortal City and Hu Jiao of Green Hill.
• Wang Chen and Hu Jiao talked as the chicken roasted, growing more comfortable with each other while Hu Jiao eagerly awaited the meal.
• Wang Chen served the Beggar’s Chicken, and he and Hu Jiao ate together.
• Hu Jiao took a drink from a purple-skinned gourd and offered it to Wang Chen.

Wang Chen and Hu Jiao shared Spirit Monkey Thousand Year Drunk in an abandoned village until seven bloodthirsty cultivators arrived and tried to rob them. Hu Jiao and Wang Chen attacked first, breaking the group’s battle formation as Wang Chen struck down two cultivators.

• Wang Chen accepted Hu Jiao’s Spirit Monkey Thousand Year Drunk, poured two cups, and praised the wine after tasting it.
• Seven Purple Mansion cultivators entered the old house and demanded to stay; Wang Chen and Hu Jiao decided to leave for another shelter.
• One cultivator tried to seize Hu Jiao’s wine, then the group demanded that Wang Chen and Hu Jiao hand over their Storage Bags for inspection.
• Hu Jiao unleashed silver hairs at all seven cultivators, but their protective artifacts and talismans shielded them from serious harm.
• Wang Chen used Shrink Ground into Inch to knock one cultivator out of the forming battle formation and wounded another with his Sword Pellet before striking his chest.

Wang Chen and Hu Jiao defeated seven Purple Mansion cultivators who attacked them, then escaped to a secluded mountain cave. Wang Chen offered Hu Jiao half the spoils, but it refused to take any.

• Wang Chen severely wounded one attacker with his Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palm and used his outer core’s aura to frighten the remaining cultivators.
• Hu Jiao restrained the attackers as Wang Chen and his companions killed the fleeing cultivators.
• Wang Chen collected the attackers’ Storage Bags and spirit artifacts, burned their corpses, and left the abandoned village with Hu Jiao.
• Hu Jiao led Wang Chen to a hidden cave where they made camp.
• Wang Chen offered Hu Jiao half the spoils, but Hu Jiao insisted it did not want any of them.

Wang Chen gave Hu Jiao a Purest Yin Qi Bead, and the two set aside their awkwardness as they agreed to search Stone Monkey Moon Worship Peak for clues to Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng. They reached the distinctive peak at dawn, where a lifelike stone monkey knelt halfway up the mountain.

• Wang Chen gave Hu Jiao his last Purest Yin Qi Bead, and Hu Jiao's reaction revealed that she was a woman in disguise.
• Wang Chen searched the captured Storage Bags and found little wealth or valuable equipment among the rogue cultivators' spoils.
• Wang Chen asked Hu Jiao about Moon Worship Peak, and she identified Stone Monkey Moon Worship Peak and offered to guide him there.
• Wang Chen explained that he sought a clue to Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng, and Hu Jiao agreed to join him and buy a share if they found it.
• Wang Chen and Hu Jiao flew to Stone Monkey Moon Worship Peak, arriving at a solitary mountain marked by a lifelike stone monkey boulder.

Wang Chen and Hu Jiao searched Moon Worship Peak for Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng and discovered a hidden entrance to a beautiful grotto-heaven. They entered and found Qunfang Residence, but received no answer when Wang Chen called out to its presumed owner.

• Wang Chen confirmed that Hu Jiao had led him to Moon Worship Peak, where he planned to search for Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng at night.
• Wang Chen watched the moonlight flash from the stone monkey’s head and followed the beam’s path into a dark valley with Hu Jiao.
• Wang Chen used an Eight Trigrams Mirror and his Divine Sense to locate a hidden door of light on the cliff, then entered it with Hu Jiao.
• Wang Chen and Hu Jiao found themselves in a vast garden filled with unusual flowers and herbs, which Hu Jiao guessed was a grotto-heaven.
• Wang Chen spotted the cottage called Qunfang Residence, bowed, and called out to its presumed owner, but no one answered.

Wang Chen and Hu Jiao searched an empty Cave Mansion and found no ginseng, but discovered that its meditation cushion was a third-tier cultivation Magic Treasure. After sharing food and wine, Hu Jiaojiao revealed her real name and offered to show Wang Chen her true appearance; when he declined, a figure flashed past the door, and they rushed after it.

• Wang Chen and Hu Jiao searched the Cave Mansion but found no Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng or other valuable plants.
• Wang Chen discovered that the dusty meditation cushion was a third-tier Magic Treasure that assisted cultivation, and Hu Jiao let him keep it.
• Wang Chen and Hu Jiao shared wine and food, and Hu Jiao revealed that her real name was Hu Jiaojiao.
• Hu Jiaojiao asked Wang Chen whether he wanted to see her true appearance, but he said he preferred things as they were.
• Wang Chen and Hu Jiaojiao spotted a figure flash past the doorway and rushed outside after it.

Wang Chen and Hu Jiaojiao discovered that the ancient Cave Mansion’s missing spiritual energy might have been absorbed by a hidden Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng. They lured out the ginseng spirit, but Hu Jiaojiao’s compassion made Wang Chen leave its fate to her.

• Wang Chen and Hu Jiaojiao suspected the Cave Mansion had once been a Blessed Grotto-Heaven whose spiritual energy had been drained by a treasure.
• Wang Chen and Hu Jiaojiao used Spirit Monkey Thousand Year Drunk as bait and waited for the hidden figure to appear.
• Wang Chen struck the ground as the ginseng spirit reached for the wine, and Hu Jiaojiao knocked it down with her fox tail.
• Wang Chen and Hu Jiaojiao recognized the spirit as a Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng, a rare treasure that could help Wang Chen condense a top-grade Golden Core.
• Hu Jiaojiao held the frightened ginseng child and pleaded with Wang Chen, who withdrew his pressure and let her decide what to do.

Wang Chen gave up the Black Ginseng Child and accepted Hu Jiaojiao’s Thousand-Year Spirit Pearl, then left the collapsing Cave Mansion with her. After returning to the Library Pavilion, he could no longer find the Anonymous Travel Notes, and his memories of it began mysteriously fading.

• Wang Chen refused to take the Black Ginseng Child from Hu Jiaojiao, and she gave him a Thousand-Year Spirit Pearl as compensation.
• Hu Jiaojiao promised to ask her clan elders to find a way for Wang Chen to obtain the Black Ginseng treasure without harming the child.
• Wang Chen and Hu Jiaojiao escaped the collapsing Cave Mansion through a light gate and parted at Moon Worship Peak after she gave him a message talisman.
• Wang Chen returned to Yongle Immortal City, cultivated until his leave ended, and resumed work at the Library Pavilion.
• Wang Chen searched for the Anonymous Travel Notes but found no copy or borrowing record, then discovered his memories of its contents were fading and that he could not write them down.

After three peaceful years managing the Library Pavilion, Wang Chen learned that He Haoming, a greedy He family cultivator implicated in corruption, had replaced Cao Ke as steward. Cao Ke warned Wang Chen that He Haoming would use the position to extort gifts and find leverage, leaving Wang Chen weighing whether to endure him or remove the problem.

• Wang Chen finished reading Xuan Xuanzi's Dao canon and reflected on the knowledge he had gained during three years at the Library Pavilion.
• Cao Ke announced that He Haoming would become the new steward, and Cao Ke left the meeting in anger.
• Cao Ke told Wang Chen that the higher-ups had sidelined him because he could not afford their expected tribute.
• Cao Ke warned Wang Chen that He Haoming had been transferred after a corruption case and would pressure the managers for valuable gifts.
• Wang Chen considered whether he could solve the problem by getting rid of He Haoming.

Wang Chen rejected He Haoming’s attempt to take his residence by promising him a Heaven Restoration Pill, then resigned from the Library Pavilion to avoid further harassment and focus on cultivation. After half a month in seclusion, he emerged to find a long-unseen beauty waiting at his home.

• Wang Chen presented He Haoming with one hundred Medium Spirit Stones at a banquet celebrating He Haoming’s appointment.
• He Haoming offered Wang Chen a Heaven Restoration Pill in exchange for transferring his city residence, but Wang Chen refused.
• He Haoming made Wang Chen’s work increasingly difficult, so Wang Chen resigned from his Library Pavilion steward position.
• Wang Chen left the Library Pavilion and entered seclusion to push toward the Purple Mansion peak.
• Half a month later, Wang Chen emerged from seclusion and found a long-unseen beauty waiting at his home.

Yu Fei warned Wang Chen that Yongle Immortal City was no longer a safe place to stay, though she did not explain why. Suspecting trouble was coming and needing resources for his future cultivation, Wang Chen decided to leave and sold his residence.

• Wang Chen and Yu Fei reunited after several years, and she told him to move away from Yongle Immortal City.
• Yu Fei left without explaining her warning, and Wang Chen suspected that a major crisis was approaching the city.
• Wang Chen went to a brokerage and listed his residence for sale at ninety percent of its market price.
• The brokerage shopkeeper tried to persuade Wang Chen to accept a loan and then offered a lower purchase price, but Wang Chen refused.
• The shopkeeper agreed to buy the residence at ninety percent of market value with immediate payment, and Wang Chen received the Spirit Stones.

After leaving Yongle Immortal City, Wang Chen was ambushed by four Purple Mansion cultivators who tried to rob him. He used his external elixir to feign Golden Core pressure, killed them, and continued toward his destination.

• Wang Chen left Yongle Immortal City the morning after deciding to move away.
• Four Purple Mansion cultivators pursued Wang Chen and demanded his Storage Bags, having learned he had come into a fortune.
• Wang Chen used his external elixir to imitate Golden Core pressure, frightening the four attackers and breaking their resolve.
• Wang Chen killed all four cultivators with the Dragon Abyss Sword, collected their belongings, and burned their corpses.
• Wang Chen discovered that his Heavenly Merit points had exceeded ten thousand, raised his Divine Soul attribute to 26, and flew onward for several thousand li.

Wang Chen was captured by the Mountain Moving Sect while traveling to Thousand Stars Immortal City and forced into its vanguard war camp for an assault on Yongle Immortal City. Trapped among other conscripts with a deadly restriction in his Sea of Consciousness, he realized he was unlikely to survive the coming battle.

• Wang Chen traveled toward Thousand Stars Immortal City, hoping to obtain the treasures needed to condense a Golden Core.
• A Flying Ship captured Wang Chen and the Dragon Abyss Sword, freezing his Mana and carrying him into a secret chamber.
• Zhao Chenhui of the Mountain Moving Sect told Wang Chen that the sect had sealed the area around Yongle Immortal City and would attack it soon.
• Wang Chen agreed to join the vanguard war camp, and Zhao Chenhui made him wear an ebony Daoist hairpin that placed a lethal restriction in his Sea of Consciousness.
• An armored Battle Cultivator escorted Wang Chen to a room of several dozen captured cultivators, all wearing matching hairpins.
• Wang Chen sat apart from the others and concluded that the Mountain Moving Sect had captured him as expendable cannon fodder.

Wang Chen was held captive by the Mountain Moving Sect, then assigned to its vanguard as cannon fodder for the assault on Yongle Immortal City. As the war began, he found himself approaching the city he had once left, with its defensive array already raised.

• Wang Chen suppressed the Primordial Dao Stele’s disturbance and waited for a chance to escape the Mountain Moving Sect’s restraints.
• Mountain Moving Sect guards tortured a sobbing female captive, silencing the prisoners before moving them to the sect’s wilderness camp.
• The Mountain Moving Sect assigned Wang Chen to a vanguard squad, issued him shoddy equipment and supplies, and put him through battle formation training.
• After more than half a month, a Golden Core True Person announced the start of the campaign against Yongle Immortal City, and Wang Chen boarded an assault ship.
• The assault ship stopped near Yongle Immortal City, whose defensive array had been activated, and Wang Chen recognized the city in the ship’s light mirror.

The Mountain Moving Sect surrounded Yongle Immortal City, claiming it had come to seek justice for a missing disciple. Sect Leader Gu Xi attacked the city’s defenses with Fusang Wood roots, devastating the surrounding settlements as Qi Nanshan prepared to resist.

• Tens of thousands of Mountain Moving Sect Flying Ships surrounded Yongle Immortal City before its defensive array was fully activated.
• Qi Nanshan confronted Gu Xi, who said the sect had come because a true disciple had vanished inside the city and accused Qi of being a puppet City Lord.
• Gu Xi ordered eight fourth-tier Flying Ships to unleash Eight Desolations Standing Wood, and Fusang Wood roots began burrowing through the soil toward the Dragon Turtle and the city.
• The roots ravaged nearby farms and settlements, while Mountain Moving Sect disciples captured fleeing cultivators and the roots dragged away those who resisted.

Wang Chen joined the Mountain Moving Sect’s assault on Yongle Immortal City, attacking its defensive formation amid a fierce siege. An Immortal Slaying Crossbow Bolt pierced his chest, and he fell toward the ground with his fate uncertain.

• Fusang Wood roots bound the Dragon Turtle while Yongle Immortal City’s cannons and crossbows exchanged fire with the Mountain Moving Fleet.
• The Mountain Moving Sect sent hundreds and thousands of Assault Flying Ships toward the city to drain its defensive formation.
• Wang Chen left his Assault Flying Ship and slashed Yongle Immortal City’s barrier with the Dragon Abyss Sword.
• Yongle Immortal City deployed Immortal Slaying Crossbows and Battle Cultivators against the attackers, killing a Purple Mansion cultivator with a bolt.
• A Crossbow Bolt pierced Wang Chen’s mana shield and struck his right chest, sending him plunging toward the ground.

As Mountain Moving Sect forces assaulted Yongle Immortal City, Wang Chen feigned death to escape their control and flee the battlefield underground. He dug for five days, leaving the city far behind.

• Thousands of cannon-fodder cultivators attacked Yongle Immortal City's weakening defensive barrier while Golden Core flying ships waited to strike any breach.
• Wang Chen appeared mortally wounded by an Immortal Slaying Crossbow Bolt, then used the Primordial Dao Stele to erase the restriction in his Sea of Consciousness.
• As Mountain Moving Sect cultivators approached to collect the fallen, Wang Chen used the Earth Stone Technique to burrow underground beneath the wreckage of a crashing Assault Flying Ship.
• Wang Chen dug an escape tunnel away from Yongle Immortal City, resting and replenishing his strength along the way.
• Wang Chen continued digging for five days.

Wang Chen escaped underground from the battle near Yongle Immortal City and learned that the Mountain Moving Sect had conquered it and renamed it Fangshan Immortal City. After killing a bandit group that intercepted him, he continued toward Thousand Stars Immortal City with the city’s fate revealed.

• Wang Chen emerged after five days of digging, checked his location, disguised himself, and set out on foot toward Thousand Stars Immortal City.
• A group of five bandits intercepted Wang Chen and demanded his Storage Bag, so he used his overwhelming domain to kill four and capture their leader.
• Wang Chen questioned the bandit leader, who told him that the Mountain Moving Sect had taken Yongle Immortal City after a three-day battle and renamed it Fangshan Immortal City.
• The bandit leader explained that the Mountain Moving Sect planned a ceremony and intended to recruit cultivators for the new city and sect.
• Wang Chen listened to the news, then killed the bandit leader with a sword strike.

After witnessing the Joyous Union Sect’s Flying Ship approach the newly renamed Fangshan Immortal City, Wang Chen fled the area and traveled ten thousand li to Thousand Stars Immortal City. He reached Welcome Immortal Town, where local boy Pei Yan offered to find him lodging and led him to a building, calling for Sister Zi Ling to open the door.

• Wang Chen saw the Joyous Union Sect’s Flying Ship heading toward Fangshan Immortal City and hurried away in the opposite direction.
• Wang Chen traveled day and night until he reached the vast Earth Grade Thousand Stars Immortal City.
• Wang Chen stopped at Welcome Immortal Town and hired Pei Yan to help him find a place to stay.
• Pei Yan led Wang Chen to a two-story building and pounded on the door, calling for Sister Zi Ling.

Wang Chen found lodging in Welcome Immortal Town and learned that his former residence, Yongle Immortal City, had become Fangshan Immortal City, making his immortal registration difficult to resolve. He left with the option of applying to transfer his registration to Thousand Stars Immortal City, though the process would cost Spirit Stones.

• Pei Yan directed Wang Chen to rent Zi Ling's guest room, and Wang Chen paid for three days and gave Pei Yan a broker's fee.
• Zi Ling showed Wang Chen his room and explained the house's warning formation and Welcome Immortal Town's nightly curfew rules.
• Wang Chen asked Pei Yan to find him a tavern, treated him to dinner, and questioned him about the local situation.
• Pei Yan told Wang Chen that Yongle Immortal City had become Fangshan Immortal City and that Wang Chen would need to re-register his immortal status.
• Pei Yan explained that Wang Chen could apply to transfer his registration to Thousand Stars Immortal City, but Wang Chen had no high-level Golden Core cultivator to vouch for him.