Chapter Summaries

Yuan Ming discovered that the invisible power gathered by the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron was wish power, learned that his father had advanced in cultivation, and left seclusion to meet a customer at his Spirit Incense Shop. There he recognized the visitor as Zuo Qinghui, who raised a proposal from five years earlier.

• Yuan Ming tested the Soul Crow and found its Crow Cry could weaken enemies and help draw them into the Dream Butterfly Illusion.
• Yuan Ming sensed the power gathering in the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron and named the similar power in Black Incense and incense ash wish power.
• Yuan Ming possessed his father with Black Incense, saw that he had reached the ninth level of Qi Refinement, and resolved to seek longevity pills for his mother.
• After Hu Tu reported that a customer demanded to meet the shop owner, Yuan Ming secretly scouted the Spirit Incense Shop and recognized Zuo Qinghui.
• Yuan Ming prepared defenses at his cave abode, returned to the shop, and met Zuo Qinghui, who said he had come to revisit a proposal from five years earlier.

Zuo Qinghui exposed Yuan Ming’s role in Xu Changqing’s death and tried to extort the Xuanhua Incense Shop’s profits, so Yuan Ming lured him to his cave abode and activated the Five Elements Illusion Array. As the array engulfed them, Yuan Ming fled while Zuo Qinghui attacked him with a magic treasure.

• Zuo Qinghui revealed that he had traced Yuan Ming’s actions at Zhenling Sect and the Guangli Rogue Alliance, then offered to cover up Xu Changqing’s death in exchange for spirit stones.
• Zuo Qinghui planted a mana mark in Yuan Ming and demanded half of the Xuanhua Incense Shop’s future profits, claiming he would protect Yuan Ming from Changchun Temple’s investigation.
• Yuan Ming pretended to accept the deal and brought Zuo Qinghui to his cave abode, where Zuo Qinghui became distracted by a Wind Daylily Flower.
• Yuan Ming activated the Five Elements Illusion Array and raced for the exit as Zuo Qinghui attacked him with a Golden Ruler Magic Treasure.
• Yuan Ming’s magic tools and the white ape’s Earth-Subduing Pestle were destroyed or shattered while they knocked the Golden Ruler Magic Treasure off course, and the array’s illusions filled the cave abode.

Yuan Ming trapped Zuo Qinghui inside the Five Elements Illusion Array and used lightning and soul techniques to wound him, but the Soul Annihilation Sword’s backlash nearly overwhelmed Yuan Ming. The Heaven-Stealing Cauldron restored his depleted soul power, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Yuan Ming activated the Bronze Lightning Sword and strengthened the Lightning Array while Zuo Qinghui tried to break through the Five Elements Illusion Array.
• Yuan Ming sent four Soul Crows to attack Zuo Qinghui with the Dream Butterfly Illusion, then used the array to keep him within range of their black sound waves.
• Zuo Qinghui recognized Yuan Ming as a soul cultivator and attacked him with the Golden Ruler Magic Treasure, but Yuan Ming escaped the lethal strike by turning his body into an illusion.
• Yuan Ming released all eight Soul Crows and struck Zuo Qinghui with lightning and Soul Extinguishing Sword Qi, leaving him badly wounded and nearly unable to move.
• The Soul Annihilation Sword’s Baleful Intent struck Yuan Ming’s depleted soul, but the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron restored his soul power and steadied his consciousness.

Yuan Ming defeated Zuo Qinghui with the Soul Annihilation Sword, but its backlash and the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron’s influence caused his soul to split. He discovered that the severed portion could recover and transform into different shapes, including a Soul Crow with some independent consciousness.

• Yuan Ming noticed that the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron’s warm current was worsening a crack in his soul while Zuo Qinghui recovered inside the Five Elements Illusion Array.
• Yuan Ming sent King Kong, Flower Branch, and Thunder Rain to attack Zuo Qinghui, then trapped him with the array and Crow’s Cry Illusion Technique.
• Yuan Ming struck Zuo Qinghui with the Soul Annihilation Sword, annihilating his soul and causing his treasures to fall; the sword absorbed the scattered soul power without backlashing.
• Yuan Ming’s soul split during his attempt to repair it with the Nether Moon Art, but the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron began restoring the larger portion.
• Yuan Ming found that the severed portion could change shape, spread soul power, and leave his sea of consciousness as a transparent Soul Crow with some self-awareness.

Yuan Ming tested the transparent Soul Crow’s ability to possess corpses and living creatures, discovering that it could control their bodies and powers from as far as one hundred and fifty li away. He then examined Zuo Qinghui’s magical items and storage pouch, uncovering valuable cultivation techniques and the secrets behind two blood-based weapons.

• Yuan Ming possessed Zuo Qinghui’s corpse with the transparent Soul Crow and found it could restore the body’s movement and control its remaining mana.
• Yuan Ming had the Soul Crow possess Thunder Rain, confirming it could command the creature’s demon power, lightning, flight, and divine abilities.
• Yuan Ming tested the Soul Crow’s range and found it could travel one hundred and fifty li before he felt strain.
• Yuan Ming collected Zuo Qinghui’s Golden Sun Ruler, Purple Star Nine Dragon Spear, Blood Red Cylinder, storage pouch, and other possessions.
• Yuan Ming examined Zuo Qinghui’s Jade Slips and learned the Golden Shadow Sword Art, the Blood Transformation Technique, and several blood-based secret arts.
• Yuan Ming discovered that the Blood Red Cylinder was a Blood Star Cylinder that refined demon beast corpses into corrosive pellets, and that the Blood Red Flying Knife was a Blood Transformation Knife that inflicted deadly blood toxin.

After killing Zuo Qinghui, Yuan Ming abandoned his cave dwelling and fled north toward the Black Wind Desert to escape Changchun Temple. On the way, he unlocked the hidden contents of a Jade Slip and discovered a soul cultivation art that could greatly increase his chances of reaching Core Formation.

• Yuan Ming recovered Zuo Qinghui's belongings, found a venomous purple jade shard inside the broken green poison sword, and stored it in layers of jade cases.
• Yuan Ming packed up his cave dwelling, left a letter telling Hu Tu and the other incense shop worker to close the shop and leave, then flew north on Thunder Rain.
• Yuan Ming chose the Black Wind Desert as his destination because Changchun Temple could not easily reach him there.
• Yuan Ming sent his Spiritual Sense into Sha Hao's white Jade Slip, revealing hidden instructions that required his newly strengthened Spiritual Sense.
• Yuan Ming learned the Soul Core technique could help him comprehend core intent and increase his chance of Core Formation by half.

Yuan Ming discovered that he could absorb the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron’s power of faith to strengthen his soul, though doing so brought a painful flood of emotions. After entering the Black Wind Desert disguised as a mortal, he faced a sudden black wind and fled with Hu Ji toward four escaping cultivators.

• Yuan Ming found that absorbing external power of faith increased his soul power but also infused him with the emotions it carried.
• Yuan Ming joined a caravan entering the Black Wind Desert and learned from Hu Ji that mortals there were trapped and branded as servants.
• Yuan Ming decided he had traveled far enough and planned to leave the caravan after learning the way to Sand Trap City.
• A black wind suddenly engulfed the camp, and the four Qi Refining cultivators fled on magical artifacts.
• Yuan Ming summoned Thunder Rain, pulled Hu Ji onto his back, and chased after the fleeing cultivators.

Yuan Ming survived a black wind disaster that destroyed the caravan, then reached Sand Trap City with the unconscious Hu Ji. After leaving Hu Ji for treatment, he entered the Underground City and stopped a pickpocket from attacking him.

• Yuan Ming escaped the black wind disaster with Hu Ji, while the rest of the caravan and the four Qi Refining cultivators disappeared.
• Yuan Ming searched Hu Ji's memories, learned where Sand Trap City was, and flew there with him.
• Yuan Ming entered the Underground City and left Hu Ji at a clinic with money for his treatment.
• Yuan Ming walked through the impoverished outer city, ignored a hostile cultivator, and caught a frail cultivator trying to strike him.
• Yuan Ming threatened the frail cultivator with the Explosive Burn Technique, then released him as the gathered onlookers jeered.

Yuan Ming rented a costly residence in Sand Trap City and learned that local Insect Pills offered strong cultivation benefits but carried risks to the soul. After testing a Rock Tendril Pill and experiencing its lingering insect thoughts, he put it away and chose not to use it for now.

• Yuan Ming saw evidence of the outer city’s violence and paid six hundred spirit stones to rent one of the last available inner-city residences.
• Yuan Ming visited Spring Breeze Hall and learned that Insect Pills were made from insect cores and were cheap despite their potent medicinal power because they carried lingering thoughts that could affect cultivators.
• Yuan Ming bought a bottle of Rock Tendril Pills and several ordinary pills, then inspected his residence and set up the Five Elements Illusion Array.
• Yuan Ming consumed a Rock Tendril Pill and found that it accelerated his cultivation, but it briefly clouded his awareness with an insect’s thoughts.
• Yuan Ming put the Rock Tendril Pills away, decided not to use them for now, and confirmed that the other pills had normal effects.

Yuan Ming discovered that readers of his book generated aspiration power for the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron, then tested its range and limits. After killing an ambusher outside Sand Trap City and confirming Changchun Temple had not learned of Zuo Qinghui’s death, he resumed cultivation but remained unable to absorb the cauldron’s refined aspiration power.

• Yuan Ming sent a Soul Crow to investigate dense aspiration power in Sand Trap City and witnessed Zhang Xiu clash with his father over his wish to leave and see the world.
• Yuan Ming realized that his readers generated aspiration power and tested how its strength faded with distance, finding he could sense its source only within about thirty li.
• A gray-robed cultivator ambushed Yuan Ming with ice spikes, but Yuan Ming used the Dream Butterfly Illusion to expose him and killed him before taking his belongings.
• Yuan Ming possessed one of Zuo Qinghui’s disciples and learned that Changchun Temple had not discovered Zuo Qinghui’s death.
• Yuan Ming tried to cultivate with the aspiration power around the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron, but chaotic emotions forced him to stop, and he still could not reach the refined power inside.

Yuan Ming discovered that his split Soul Crow could refine power of faith with the Heart Cleansing Art, letting him rapidly strengthen his main soul and consume Insect Pills without their usual side effects. Four months later, after his books gained few readers in Sand Trap City, he met Cui Wu Ran at a pill shop and learned Cui was acquainted with the proprietor.

• Yuan Ming used the Heart Cleansing Art to purge the split Soul Crow's chaotic emotions, then refined power of faith through it and fed most of the resulting soul power to his main soul.
• Yuan Ming tested the Heart Cleansing Art on the Insectoid Beast remnants from a Rock Tendril Pill and found that it erased their distracting thoughts, so he bought more Insect Pills to cultivate.
• After four months, Yuan Ming learned that his books sold poorly in Sand Trap City because many mortals were illiterate, leaving his power of faith gains minimal.
• Yuan Ming visited Spring Breeze Hall to buy Rock Tendril Pills in bulk and unexpectedly encountered Cui Wu Ran, whom he had met at the Four Symbols Tea House.
• Yuan Ming and Cui Wu Ran exchanged names and spoke vaguely about being in the Black Wind Desert; Cui offered to introduce him to the shopkeeper for a discount.

Yuan Ming bought Rock Tendril Pills from Spring Breeze Hall and discovered a new stream of wish power tied to someone in the Black Soil District. He sent the Soul Crow to investigate and learned that poor Hu Ji was praying to him while trying to obtain medicine for his sick wife.

• Cui Wu Ran introduced Yuan Ming to Shopkeeper Shen, who offered him a discount on Rock Tendril Pills.
• Cui Wu Ran invited Yuan Ming to join a dangerous mission to destroy a Fire-Throat Lizard nest, but Yuan Ming declined and accepted a transmission talisman.
• Yuan Ming sensed a new stream of wish power, traced it to the Black Soil District, and sent the Soul Crow to investigate.
• Hu Ji returned home and gave his sick wife a blackened pill while their young daughter explained that she had been washing clothes to help.
• Hu Ji placed a spirit tablet bearing Yuan Ming's name beside the Black River God's tablet, prayed, and took hidden gold and silver from beneath the offering table.
• Hu Ji went to buy medicine from the Black River God's Divine Envoy, who said supplies were scarce and the price had risen.

Yuan Ming recruited Hu Ji to spread the faith of the Nether Moon God and gave him effective medicine for Green Poison Syndrome. After discovering that poisoned well water was causing the illness, Yuan Ming sent Flower Branch to find the source and remove it, leaving him considering how to turn the cure into more willpower.

• Hu Ji returned from the Black River God Cult with fewer pills than expected and was driven out after questioning their medicine.
• Yuan Ming visited Hu Ji, renamed his household's memorial tablet for the Nether Moon God, and asked him to spread the new faith.
• Hu Ji explained that Green Poison Syndrome was a major problem in Sand Trap City, and Yuan Ming gave him Low-grade Detoxification Pills to treat it.
• Yuan Ming discovered poison in Hu Ji's well water and sent Flower Branch underground to find its source.
• Flower Branch found an Insect Demon leaking poison into the underground river, defeated it, and brought it back after it submitted.
• Yuan Ming learned that the source of the poisoned water had been removed and considered using the cure to gain more willpower.

Hu Ji presented the Nether Moon God’s cure and a slain Insect Demon to the people of Sand Trap City, drawing them away from the Black River God Cult. When Li Xia attacked Flower Branch and the gathered residents, Yuan Ming trapped him in an illusion and left him unconscious.

• Hu Ji gathered believers and district residents at the well, praised the Nether Moon God, and revealed an image of a vine deity killing an Insect Demon blamed for Green Poison Syndrome.
• Hu Ji displayed the Insect Demon’s corpse and declared that the city would no longer suffer from the disease, prompting the crowd to praise the Nether Moon God.
• Tu Cha arrived with Li Xia, who accused the Nether Moon God’s envoy of stealing his followers and threatened to kill Flower Branch.
• Yuan Ming commanded Flower Branch to attack Li Xia while casting an illusion, and Li Xia’s black water appeared to dissolve the vines and kill fleeing residents.
• Li Xia struck Yuan Ming with a black water arrow, but the illusion revealed that the residents were alive and suspended by vines; Yuan Ming stood unharmed nearby.
• Li Xia tried to use his pearl again, but the illusion disoriented him until he lost consciousness.

After killing Li Xia, Yuan Ming discovered that the Black River God’s followers possessed a gourd that stored wish power, then split his Split Soul into two. He used one soul to possess Zuo Qinghui as a cultivable avatar and continued cultivating while the threat behind the Black River God remained unresolved.

• Li Xia’s soul exploded before Yuan Ming could search it, and Yuan Ming publicly declared himself the Nether Moon Divine Envoy as the crowd’s faith in the Nether Moon God grew.
• Yuan Ming let Flower Branch leave the city to roam the desert, giving him protective equipment and instructions to conceal his identity.
• Yuan Ming found a jade fragment inside Li Xia’s Nine Netherworld Iron gourd that drew in wish power, but he could neither use that power nor remove the fragment.
• After absorbing wish power for over a month, Yuan Ming’s Split Soul reached the second layer of the Heart Cleansing Art, allowing him to divide it into two Soul Crows.
• Yuan Ming possessed Zuo Qinghui with one Soul Crow and found that the body could cultivate, then gave him pills to help him rebuild his strength.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, Yuan Ming acquired a formation needed to prepare for condensing a Soul Core and collected rewards for Flower Branch's beast-hunting missions. He accepted Cui Wu Ran's invitation to a small exchange gathering and left with him and a Fire Origin Sect cultivator.

• Yuan Ming broke through to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage after a year and a half of cultivation, while his Nether Moon Art and Split Soul continued to grow stronger.
• Yuan Ming visited Earth Spirit Pavilion and collected the Big Dipper Star Soul Formation he had commissioned from Master Lu.
• Yuan Ming received Flower Branch's storage pouch of Insectoid Beast materials and turned them in at the Tiger Might independent alliance for seven or eight hundred spirit stones.
• Yuan Ming met Cui Wu Ran at Tiger Might, where Cui Wu Ran congratulated him on his breakthrough and invited him to an exchange gathering.
• Yuan Ming accepted the invitation and left with Cui Wu Ran and the bearded cultivator from the Fire Origin Sect.

Yuan Ming attended a cultivator exchange gathering and sought information about methods to assist Core Formation. Cui Wu Ran offered two such methods, but the red-haired cultivator Wen tried to seize them, and Yuan Ming fought him off as the chapter ended.

• Cui Wu Ran brought Yuan Ming and the bearded man to a restaurant, where they met several Zhao Kingdom cultivators and heard of unusual black qi rising near Soul Burial Abyss.
• The cultivators held an exchange gathering, and Yuan Ming traded Violet Profound Incense and demonic beast materials for lightning-rich ore to help Thunder Rain.
• Yuan Ming offered three valuable materials in exchange for information about methods that could assist Core Formation.
• Cui Wu Ran offered Yuan Ming a Jade Slip containing two methods, one of them fairly reliable.
• Wen snatched the Jade Slip, but Yuan Ming used the Blood Transformation Knife to cut through Wen's magic-power hand and repel his whip.
• Wen's black whip erupted in chilling black flames as he prepared to continue the confrontation.

Yuan Ming defeated Wen during an exchange gathering and learned about two methods for assisting core formation, then heard Cui Wu Ran’s proposal to hunt a pair of Crimson Gold Centipedes. The mission promised a large reward, but Yuan Ming hesitated after learning it had been commissioned by the powerful Five Thunder Sect.

• Wen attacked Yuan Ming, but Yuan Ming’s Blood Transformation Knife pierced Wen and left him incapacitated; Wen recovered, conceded defeat, and left.
• Yuan Ming examined Cui Wu Ran’s Jade Slip and learned of the Flower Transferring Willow Technique and the Pill Washing Spirit Liquid method, judging the former too risky to trust.
• Cui Wu Ran returned the three spirit materials to Yuan Ming and offered five thousand spirit stones for help hunting a pair of Crimson Gold Centipedes.
• Yuan Ming recognized that the centipede corpses could help him earn Master Lu’s favor, but Cui Wu Ran explained that the City Lord’s Mansion had issued the mission for a Five Thunder Sect elder.
• Yuan Ming considered whether to pursue the hunt, knowing the Five Thunder Sect would likely claim the centipede corpses if the mission succeeded.

Yuan Ming arranged for Flower Branch and Zuo Qinghui to join Cui Wu Ran’s rare hunt in his place. The group traveled into Qin Kingdom territory and prepared an ambush for a pair of Crimson Gold Centipedes, with Yue Rong controlling the formation as Steward Liao’s group lured the beasts in.

• Yuan Ming declined Cui Wu Ran’s invitation but recommended Flower Branch and Zuo Qinghui, and Cui Wu Ran secured their places on the hunt.
• Flower Branch and Zuo Qinghui met Steward Liao, Gu Sanniang, and Shi Chuan at the City Lord’s Mansion before the group departed by flying boat.
• After flying for a day and night into Qin Kingdom territory, the group waited in a desert canyon for Steward Yue and two Foundation Establishment Middle Stage brothers to arrive.
• Yue Rong led the group by Yellow Sand Boat to the Crimson Gold Centipedes’ nest and set up a Thick Earth Two Phases Array.
• Steward Liao, Cui Wu Ran, and the Wang brothers went to lure the centipedes while Yue Rong and the others waited inside the concealed formation.
• Yue Rong sensed the centipedes approaching and told everyone to prepare.

Yue Rong and the others were trapped by Steward Liao and yellow-robed cultivators who had joined forces with the Crimson Gold Centipede. Zuo Qinghui identified the attackers as Guiyuan Sect disciples, secretly removed his companions’ poison, and frightened the bandits into retreating with a warning about Flower Branch’s supposed poison art.

• Yue Rong and the others attacked the Crimson Gold Centipede, but its poison mist weakened their artifacts and forced them to defend themselves with the Thick Earth Two Phases Array.
• Steward Liao sabotaged the array while Cui Wu Ran and an unseen attacker struck Yue Rong, allowing the centipede’s poison mist to overwhelm the group.
• The array collapsed, revealing that Steward Liao, the Wang Brothers, Cui Wu Ran, and several yellow-robed Foundation Establishment cultivators were working together against the poisoned group.
• Yuan Ming watched from a distant sand dune, realized the mission had been a scam, and flew toward the small stone mountain.
• Zuo Qinghui and Gu Sanniang recognized the yellow-robed attackers as likely Guiyuan Sect disciples, and Zuo quietly used Flower Branch to draw the poison from his companions.
• Zuo warned that Flower Branch could release a deadly poison, prompting the Unicorn Man and the other yellow-robed cultivators to retreat.