Chapter Summaries

During a Sha Tide, Wang Chen read True Person Ye’s notes and learned how difficult it was to gather the resources for forming a Golden Core. A strange Jade Slip revealed that Wang Chen’s Spiritual Root had reached the Superior grade, but as the Sha winds battered Anranju, someone knocked at the door.

• Wang Chen sensed an approaching Sha Tide, retreated into Anranju, and activated its defenses.
• Wang Chen read Ye Shunping’s notes and learned that Ye had spent thirty years gathering resources before forming an eight-grade Golden Core.
• Wang Chen realized he should begin collecting Golden Core resources early because he lacked the support of a family or sect.
• Wang Chen tested his blood on Ye Shunping’s Jade Slip, which revealed that his Spiritual Root was Superior grade, though his cultivation was too low to open its spells.
• Wang Chen heard someone knock on Anranju’s door during the raging Sha Tide, gripped the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, and demanded to know who was there.

Wang Chen resisted a terrifying presence that tried to lure him out of Anranju, relying on the defensive array and enduring a spiritual assault. The Primordial Dao Stele drove the presence away, leaving Wang Chen alive and with an increase in Divine Soul Points.

• Wang Chen heard an unknown presence knock at Anranju’s door and strengthened the defensive array with High Spirit Stones rather than opening it.
• The presence stopped pounding but sent murmurs into Wang Chen’s mind, compelling him to open the door and nearly making him lose control.
• Wang Chen endured the spiritual assault as black qi entered his body and a shadow formed in his Sea of Consciousness.
• The Primordial Dao Stele released golden light that melted the shadow and injured the presence, while Wang Chen lost one hundred thousand Human Virtue.
• Wang Chen regained consciousness, saw that his Divine Soul had increased by one point, sensed the presence had vanished, and collapsed to his knees.

After the Sha Tide vanished, Wang Chen was released from guarding the North Sha Eye and returned to Yongle Immortal City. He received early citizenship, rewards, and leave, then went to the Treasure Pavilion to obtain a method for using his Outer Core.

• Changsun Yong told Wang Chen that his guard duty had ended and explained that True Person Wang had uncovered the injustice behind his assignment.
• Wang Chen gave Changsun Yong a Purest Yin Qi Bead, and Changsun Yong revealed that Sima Changming and True Person Ye had died and promised to support Wang Chen.
• Wang Chen handed over his post at Anranju and returned to the Prison Department, where he received his Yongle Immortal Registry two years early, five hundred Immortal Merit points, cultivation resources, Treasure Pavilion access, and a month of leave.
• Wang Chen entered the Treasure Pavilion and asked about methods for refining and using an Outer Core.
• Wang Chen agreed to exchange six hundred and fifty Immortal Merit points for the Profound True Outer Core Technique.

Wang Chen refined the Profound True Outer Core Technique in Langya Immortal Land, then tested how the outer core strengthened his combat abilities. Back in Yongle Immortal City, he decided to postpone buying a house and received word that an unexpected guest wanted to visit him.

• Wang Chen spent ten days refining an outer core with the Profound True Outer Core Technique, successfully merging it with his aura and Mana.
• Wang Chen spent three more days learning to control the outer core, then tested its power in a secluded valley and found that it greatly strengthened his spells and sword arts.
• Wang Chen returned to Yongle Immortal City and considered using the outer core to control the Yueyang Bell, but postponed buying a house because his leave was nearly over and he feared settling down.
• A maid told Wang Chen that a guest wished to visit him, and he agreed to receive the visitor.

Wang Chen resisted Yu Fei’s renewed advances, enjoyed a brief holiday in Yongle Immortal City, and spent most of his fortune acquiring rare Golden Core condensation materials. He was left with little money and thoughts of making it back by targeting Golden Core cultivators, but a message from the Prison Department called him back to work.

• Yu Fei visited Wang Chen, but he rejected her overtures and she left.
• Wang Chen explored Yongle Immortal City, enjoyed its food and entertainment, and grew more attached to the city.
• At the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, Wang Chen used the name Chen and learned the shop could supply three of the Eight Treasures for Golden Core Condensation and accept deposits for two more.
• Wang Chen spent most of his Spirit Stones on the treasures and deposits, while three especially valuable items remained unavailable or beyond his means.
• Wang Chen considered trying to profit from Golden Core True Persons, but a talisman message from the Prison Department sent him back to work.

Wang Chen transferred to Yongle Immortal City's Constabulary Office and chose to become a Bronze Badge Constable in its Demon Suppression Department. After being sent home to await summons, he celebrated his new post and worried about the costs of housing and his cultivation plans.

• Wang Chen completed his transfer to the Constabulary Office and chose the Demon Suppression Department for its lighter workload and his confidence against evil spirits.
• The clerk appointed Wang Chen a Bronze Badge Constable, and he collected his badge, uniform, and equipment from the Internal Affairs Department.
• The Demon Suppression Department's gray-haired administrator inducted Wang Chen, explained its strict summons rules and risks, and told him to wait at home.
• Wang Chen left without meeting any colleagues, then celebrated his new job at a tavern with the Spirit Stones he had planned to spend on a meal for them.
• After paying the bill, Wang Chen realized his savings would not cover his Golden Core treasure and other cultivation needs, and he also had to find a long-term home.

Wang Chen considered renting a haunted residence after learning about its tragic history and strange disturbances. He asked the owner to sell it, but the Purple Mansion cultivator opened with an exorbitant price.

• Xiao Song told Wang Chen that his uncle-in-law's vacant residence was a haunted house available for cheap rent.
• Xiao Song explained that a singer who had been humiliated by his uncle-in-law's Dao companion had hanged herself, after which strange incidents began in the house.
• Wang Chen went to inspect the residence and found it cold, dusty, and neglected despite the blazing heat outside.
• Wang Chen asked Xiao Song to contact his uncle-in-law about selling the house.
• Xiao Song's uncle-in-law arrived and named a sky-high opening price for the residence.

Wang Chen bought Yue Buyi’s troubled residence at a steep discount and paid the first year’s household tax, then returned to make the place his own. Just as he finished cleaning, Yu Fei tracked him down and invited herself inside.

• Wang Chen refused Yue Buyi’s demands until Yue agreed to sell the residence for six hundred thousand Lower Spirit Stones.
• Wang Chen pawned the Purple Lightning Flying Boat, completed the property transfer, and paid the residence’s first year of household tax.
• Wang Chen thanked Xiao Song for helping with the transaction and gave him Spirit Stones.
• Wang Chen cleaned and furnished the residence himself, using his arts and Sword Pellet to restore the courtyard.
• Yu Fei found Wang Chen at his new home and teased him, so he flicked her forehead.

Wang Chen learned that Yu Fei had plotted against Yue Buyi to avenge her senior sister, then performed a rite for the dead woman at his new residence. He continued cultivating in Yongle Immortal City and later learned that Yue Buyi had been ruined, apparently by Yu Fei.

• Yu Fei told Wang Chen that Yue Buyi's wife had been her senior sister, who left the Joyous Union Sect, gave up her cultivation, and died after trusting Yue Buyi.
• Yu Fei admitted that she had created the rumors haunting Yue Buyi's residence and planned to torment him and his poisonous wife, while Wang Chen refused to accept blame for disrupting her plans.
• After Yu Fei left, Wang Chen used Rebirth Talismans and recited a Rebirth Incantation in the courtyard; a wind shaped fallen leaves into a woman who bowed before vanishing.
• Wang Chen spent the following days cultivating at his residence, aiming to reach the ninth layer of Purple Mansion and eventually condense his Pill.
• Wang Chen heard that Yue Buyi had been imprisoned for corruption, lost his fortune and Dao companion, and become mentally deranged; Wang Chen suspected Yu Fei had caused his downfall.

After learning how dangerous the Joyous Union Sect might be, Wang Chen received his first Demon Suppression Department mission and investigated three miners found dead in an abandoned passage. He detected lingering evil power at the scene, but did not yet know why he had been sent alone.

• Wang Chen reconsidered the Joyous Union Sect after realizing how much influence it might secretly hold in Yongle Immortal City.
• Wang Chen received a mission notice, put on his Constabulary Office uniform, and flew to a mining site southwest of the city.
• Wang Chen refused the manager’s prepared welcome and ordered him to lead the way to the incident site.
• Wang Chen examined three young miners whose corpses had been discovered that morning in an abandoned mine passage.
• Wang Chen found residual evil power on one corpse and wondered why the Constabulary Office had sent him alone.

Wang Chen entered an abandoned mine, captured the Evil Spirit that had killed three miners, and returned to the Constabulary Office to report his success. Steward Guan revealed that the mission had tested Wang Chen and asked him to consider taking on greater responsibility.

• Wang Chen sent the mine steward away with the miners’ bodies and followed the evil aura into the abandoned mine.
• Wang Chen used the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil to trap and weaken the Evil Spirit, then sealed it inside his work badge with an ancient bronze talisman plaque.
• Wang Chen cast Rebirth Talismans for the dead miners and confirmed that no other Evil Spirits remained in the mine.
• Wang Chen returned to the Constabulary Office and submitted his badge after telling the mine steward he had captured the Evil Spirit.
• Steward Guan explained that he had arranged the mission to test Wang Chen and invited him to consider shouldering greater responsibility.

Wang Chen killed a demon spirit during his seventeenth mission and realized Steward Guan was keeping him under pressure. Yu Fei revealed that the Joyous Union Sect wanted him to serve as a vanguard for a prophesied Star Lord, but Wang Chen refused and remained wary of their offer to deal with Guan Shengping.

• Wang Chen killed the demon spirit lurking in a mine after being sent on his seventeenth mission for the Constabulary Office.
• Wang Chen returned to Yongle Immortal City and considered how to escape Steward Guan's control without abandoning his immortal registry or his plans to condense his core.
• Wang Chen invited Yu Fei into his courtyard and asked her to explain why she kept approaching him.
• Yu Fei told Wang Chen that the Joyous Union Sect was recruiting talent to serve as vanguard for a prophesied Star Lord, and said his Dragon-Serpent aura made him suitable.
• Wang Chen refused to join the Joyous Union Sect or accept its offer to resolve his troubles with Guan Shengping, and Yu Fei left.

Guan Shengping intensified the pressure on Wang Chen by assigning him a dangerous mission to hunt the high-level Purple Mansion Evil Cultivator Liang Cen. Wang Chen found Liang Cen and fought through his crow transformations, but the battle remained unresolved.

• Guan Shengping decided Wang Chen needed more tempering and ordered that greater burdens be placed on him.
• Wang Chen received orders to hunt Liang Cen, a former Demon Suppression Department constable who had fallen to the demonic path, and his appeal for help was rejected.
• Wang Chen collected a Divine Soul talisman badge, left Yongle Immortal City, and used it to track Liang Cen to a lone mountain peak.
• Liang Cen transformed into a giant crow and attacked Wang Chen with swarms of crows, flying feathers, and a black claw.
• Wang Chen used the Dragon Abyss Sword to cut off one of the claw's talons, then activated Mystic Fire Flying Crow and charged into the swarm.

Wang Chen fought Liang Cen, was badly wounded, and let the pursuing constables take over before reporting back to Guan Shengping. Guan Shengping gave up on recruiting him and ordered him removed from the Demon Suppression Department after he redeemed his Dao pact with his Immortal Merits.

• Wang Chen used Nine Heavens Divine Thunder and the Dragon Abyss Sword to gain the advantage over Liang Cen, but Liang Cen trapped him with a demonic Crystal Bead and struck him down.
• Wang Chen wounded Liang Cen with a counterattack, and Liang Cen fled when three Purple Mansion-tier constables arrived.
• The constables took over the pursuit, while Wang Chen returned to the Constabulary Office in Yongle Immortal City with grave injuries.
• Wang Chen admitted his defeat to Guan Shengping, who ended his recruitment and dismissed him from the Demon Suppression Department.
• Guan Shengping ordered a middle-aged cultivator to make Wang Chen redeem his Dao pact with his Immortal Merits and assign him a leisurely post.

After leaving his Constabulary Office post, Wang Chen tracked down Liang Cen to settle their grudge and eliminate the Evil Cultivator. He killed Liang Cen with the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, earned Heavenly Merit, and collected his belongings.

• Wang Chen used an apparent recovery period to leave Yongle Immortal City secretly, keeping the talisman token that tracked Liang Cen.
• Wang Chen strengthened his Divine Sense with the Upper Clarity Qiankun Mirror and located Liang Cen in a Rogue Cultivator village three thousand li away.
• Wang Chen infiltrated Liang Cen's stone house at night and trapped him in the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil.
• Liang Cen offered Wang Chen resources and Spirit Stones, but Wang Chen killed him with a blade of Sword Light.
• Wang Chen earned 999 Heavenly Merit and took Liang Cen's demonic artifacts and Storage Bag.

After defeating Liang Cen, Wang Chen hid his strength and was reassigned to the Library Pavilion as its steward. He settled into a quiet routine of studying and refining his external Golden Core while his apparent cultivation continued to decline.

• Wang Chen returned to Yongle Immortal City after crushing Liang Cen, but kept pretending that his Dao foundation was damaged.
• The Demon Suppression Department transferred Wang Chen to the Library Pavilion, where Steward Ma showed him around and explained his duties.
• Wang Chen began reading the pavilion’s books and records each day, finding the quiet post well suited to him.
• Wang Chen’s apparent injuries healed as his displayed realm fell from the eighth layer of Purple Mansion to the fifth, worsening Guan Shengping’s opinion of him.
• Wang Chen refined his external Golden Core in his spare time and attended every Dao lecture, driven by a sense of urgency.

Wang Chen finished a rushed assignment at the Library Pavilion and continued studying how to find the rare treasures he needed to condense a top-grade Golden Core. He found a predecessor’s notes detailing the origins of Spirit Pearls and Black Ginseng, giving him leads for his search.

• Cao Ke ordered the Library Pavilion staff to prepare extensive materials within three days and advised Wang Chen to leave the post when he had the chance.
• Wang Chen returned to his usual routine after the assignment and shifted his reading toward information about Golden Core treasures.
• After trading the Purple Lightning Flying Boat and other possessions for reserved Golden Core treasures, Wang Chen was left with few Spirit Stones and still lacked three rare materials.
• Wang Chen decided to search for the Thousand-Year Spirit Pearl, Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng, and Ten-Thousand-Year Star Sand himself rather than settle for inferior substitutes.
• Wang Chen discovered a predecessor’s notes that recorded the origins of Spirit Pearls and Black Ginseng.

Wang Chen quietly cultivated while managing the Library Pavilion, keeping up the appearance of an injured, unambitious cultivator. After one manager died and Wang Chen was promoted, he obtained annual leave from Cao Ke.

• Wang Chen attended the monthly managers' meeting, where the other managers offered false sympathy about his damaged Dao foundation and teased him.
• Wang Chen returned to his room and continued cultivating while reading, then disguised his improved appearance to preserve his low-profile image.
• Another year passed, and Wang Chen was promoted from Fifth Manager to Fourth Manager after the Second Manager died from a deviation while taking qi-nourishing Pills.
• Wang Chen applied to superintendent Cao Ke for annual leave, and Cao Ke approved it.

Wang Chen traveled to Manglong Mountain to search for the Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng needed for Golden Core Condensation. After settling in an abandoned farmstead, he shared food with a stranger and revealed that he had recognized the man as a member of the Demon Race.

• Wang Chen flew from Yongle Immortal City to Manglong Mountain, hoping to find the Seven-Leaf Black Ginseng after deciding the remaining treasures were too rare to buy.
• Wang Chen reached the mountain range at dusk and chose an abandoned farmstead as a place to spend the night.
• Wang Chen checked the residence for spirits, lit a bonfire, and prepared food while calmly relying on his strength to protect himself.
• A young cultivator arrived and asked to shelter in the farmstead, and Wang Chen welcomed him and offered him meat skewers.
• Wang Chen asked whether the newcomer preferred raw food or blood food, prompting the man to realize Wang Chen had identified him as Demon Race.

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.