Chapter Summaries

Lin Xuan learned that Seven Absolutes Heaven's Grand Elder possessed the Rejuvenation Pill formula, which Master sought to gain enough lifespan to reach the Nascent Soul Realm. After uncovering the Yinhun's plan to expand an ancient teleportation array, Lin Xuan killed and impersonated Yi Hu so he could enter the valley and sabotage their work.

• A short, stout cultivator told his junior that their aging Master had joined Seven Absolutes Heaven hoping to obtain the Rejuvenation Pill formula and extend his life.
• Lin Xuan overheard that the Rejuvenation Pill could add one to three hundred years to a cultivator's lifespan, and that Seven Absolutes Heaven's Grand Elder held its formula.
• Lin Xuan killed a Foundation Establishment ghost cultivator, searched his Primordial Spirit, and learned the Yinhun planned to expand an ancient teleportation array to send a surprise force into You Province.
• Lin Xuan discovered that the dead cultivator, Yi Hu, had been assigned to help repair the array, and decided to use his appearance to gain access to it.
• Lin Xuan took a Hidden Spirit Pill, transformed into Yi Hu, and prepared to answer the summons to work on the teleportation array.

Disguised as Yi Hu, Lin Xuan reached the valley’s teleportation array and waited for a chance to attack. He and Yue'er killed the two Ghost Kings and trapped the remaining defenders, clearing the way to use the array.

• Lin Xuan found the repaired Ancient Teleportation Array and joined the ghost cultivators working nearby while he waited for an opening.
• When his disguise began to fail, Lin Xuan attacked a patrol and rushed toward the high platform, using talismans to throw the valley into confusion.
• Yue'er posed as a disciple of Ghost Emperor Haotian, then ambushed and killed the white-haired Ghost King.
• Lin Xuan used a concealed sneak attack and several treasures to kill the burly Ghost King.
• Lin Xuan sealed the valley with the Extreme Yin Evil Spirit Array to stop the remaining Yinhun and ghost cultivators from escaping or summoning reinforcements.

Lin Xuan escaped the ghost-filled valley through an Ancient Teleportation Array and emerged in a remote wilderness in You Province. After recovering and flying for three days through a lifeless mountain range, he sensed that an unknown danger was approaching.

• Lin Xuan and Yue'er wiped out the departed souls in the valley, then fled through the Ancient Teleportation Array as ghosts gathered outside.
• Lin Xuan survived the long teleportation with injuries, destroyed the array, and recovered while Yue'er kept watch.
• Lin Xuan surveyed the unfamiliar forest and concluded that the array had taken him to the hinterland of You Province.
• Lin Xuan flew for three days across endless mountains but found no birds or other animals, while his sense of impending danger grew stronger.

Lin Xuan discovered that he had arrived in the unexplored region of the Kui Yin Mountain Range after capturing and searching the memories of an Ink Moon Tribe shaman. The area was a deadly forbidden zone, but he also learned that a powerful fifth-rank Flood Dragon ruled it and had once saved the tribe’s ancestor.

• Lin Xuan used his divine sense to find Luo Yi, an Ink Moon Tribe shaman gathering herbs, and suspected he might have been teleported into the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
• Luo Yi attacked Lin Xuan with a black blade and began a blood-powered incantation, but Lin Xuan knocked him unconscious with a mental shock.
• Lin Xuan searched Luo Yi’s soul, learned that he was in the unexplored Kui Yin Mountain Range, and burned his body to ash.
• Lin Xuan learned that the Kui Yin Mountain Range was a perilous forbidden zone where even powerful cultivators risked death from demon beasts.
• Lin Xuan discovered that an Ink Moon Tribe ancestor had saved a fourth-rank Flood Dragon, which later became a fifth-rank ruler of the mountain range.

Lin Xuan learned that a hidden route could lead him out of the demon-beast-filled Kui Yin Mountain Range, but only the Ink Moon Tribe's Nascent Soul Grand Elder knew its location. He returned to the tribe disguised as Luo Yi, intending to seek the map and assess whether he could steal it.

• Lin Xuan learned from Luo Yi's memories that the Ink Moon Tribe's Grand Elder held the map to a safe route through the mountains.
• Lin Xuan decided to impersonate Luo Yi and look for an opportunity to take the map, while keeping open the option of retreating if the danger was too great.
• Lin Xuan memorized a map of the tribe's settlements from Luo Yi's Storage Bag and flew toward the Ink Moon Tribe.
• Lin Xuan used a Shape-Shifting Pill to take Luo Yi's appearance and entered the settlement, where mortals greeted him as a wizard.
• Lin Xuan followed Luo Yi's memories to the tribe's mountain of cave residences, where the elder lived at the summit and Luo Yi's fellow Foundation Establishment cultivators stayed on the middle level.

Lin Xuan settled into Luo Yi’s cave abode, refined more Demon Corpses, and cultivated while waiting for a chance to obtain the Tribal Alliance grand elder’s map. After half a month, three Witchers arrived at a poison-shrouded mountain summit.

• Lin Xuan entered Luo Yi’s cave abode, strengthened its defenses, and decided to stay while he considered how to obtain the map.
• Lin Xuan refined the remaining Demon Corpses and made them recognize him as their master.
• Lin Xuan cultivated for three days but gained little, then concluded that returning to You Province could expose him to conscription and danger amid the ghost invasion.
• Lin Xuan rejected the idea of living indefinitely among the Ink Moon Tribe because his disguise might eventually be discovered.
• Three black streaks reached the poison-shrouded summit of a nameless peak, carrying an elderly Witcher and a robust, scarred man without a nose.

Lin Xuan, living as Luo Yi among the Heavenly Azure Tribe, learned that he had been chosen to represent the tribe at the Witchcraft Assembly, where contests determined the tribes’ shares of medicine made from the Sacred Fruit. He searched the tribe’s records for more information and found that the Ink Moon Tribe had nearly been wiped out after losing a war against the Qin Clan.

• Master Withered Leaf summoned Sang Tuo, Lin Xuan, and the burly witcher to discuss the Witchcraft Assembly.
• Master Withered Leaf explained that the Sacred Fruit would ripen earlier than expected and that contest results would determine how much spiritual medicine each tribe received.
• Master Withered Leaf said the Heavenly Azure Tribe needed a strong result to gain new witchers, since no newborns had Spirit Roots.
• Master Withered Leaf chose Luo Yi to compete because participants had to be under one hundred, and ordered him to prepare for their departure in three days.
• Lin Xuan returned to his dwelling and searched an Ancient Jade Slip for records about the Witchcraft Assembly.
• Lin Xuan learned that the Ink Moon Tribe had retreated to a remote region after its defeat by the Qin Clan and had nearly faced extinction.

Lin Xuan learned that the Ink Moon Tribe used the rare Origin Gold Fruit spirit medicine and the Witchcraft Assembly to raise new Witchers, and he decided to seek the medicine. He arrived in Kui Moon City with Master Withered Leaf three days before the Assembly, prepared to compete for a favorable ranking.

• The Ink Moon Tribe’s ancestors found three Origin Gold Fruit plants and used their fruit to refine medicine that gave mortals Spirit Roots.
• The tribes established the Witchcraft Assembly to decide how to distribute the limited spirit medicine, with young Witchers competing to show how well their elders trained them.
• The Ink Moon Tribe improved the medicine’s formula, allowing some recipients to gain ordinary or decent Spirit Roots and, in rare cases, to become Golden Core cultivators.
• After reading the Jade Slip, Lin Xuan chose to stay rather than hurry back, hoping to obtain the spirit medicine.
• Lin Xuan and Master Withered Leaf arrived in Kui Moon City three days before the Witchcraft Assembly, after Master Withered Leaf had coached him for the competition.

Lin Xuan and Master Withered Leaf arrived at Kui Moon City for the Witchcraft Assembly, where they encountered Xiao Kun, an old rival of Withered Leaf. Withered Leaf warned Lin Xuan that the assembly’s contests allowed any method and recounted how Xiao Kun had once used a dirty trick against him.

• Lin Xuan and Master Withered Leaf flew into Kui Moon City and entered its smaller, restricted inner city, where Witchers were gathering for the assembly.
• Xiao Kun of the Dust Wind Tribe confronted Withered Leaf and eyed Lin Xuan, but Withered Leaf stepped between them and led Lin Xuan away.
• Lin Xuan asked Withered Leaf whether he had a grudge against Xiao Kun, and Withered Leaf recalled their match at the assembly a hundred years earlier.
• Withered Leaf explained that Xiao Kun had resorted to a dirty move when he was close to losing, and warned Lin Xuan not to show mercy in the upcoming contests.

Lin Xuan arrived at the Kui Moon Tribe’s Post House with Master Withered Leaf, who warned that Xiao Kun might target him during the Witchcraft Assembly. After resting, Lin Xuan went to the city marketplace to prepare for the contest without exposing his identity as a cultivator of the Qin Clan.

• Master Withered Leaf revealed that he had blinded Xiao Kun during a past contest and warned Lin Xuan that Xiao Kun might order Dust Wind Tribe disciples to kill him on the contest stage.
• Lin Xuan and Master Withered Leaf reached the Post House, received their room tablets, and settled in.
• After Master Withered Leaf left to visit old friends, Lin Xuan rested and then went to the marketplace to find spirit tools suitable for the Witchcraft Assembly.
• Lin Xuan entered a small shop and learned that its mortal attendant had been assigned there by the tribal elders to serve visiting Witchers.

Lin Xuan browsed a magic-tool shop and examined three spiritual tools made with unfamiliar Witcher techniques. He agreed to buy them all, but was shocked when the shopkeeper named a price of nine hundred crystal stones.

• Lin Xuan asked the shopkeeper to show him good magic tools and examined a high-grade crescent saber.
• The shopkeeper presented a Five Poison Banner refined by Master Mo of the Silver Phoenix Tribe, and Lin Xuan inspected its unfamiliar runes and materials.
• Lin Xuan recognized that a bone shield was made from a Xieluo Beast and learned that its beast soul was sealed inside.
• Lin Xuan decided to buy the Crescent Blade, Five Poison Banner, and White Bone Shield.
• The shopkeeper quoted a total of nine hundred crystal stones, and Lin Xuan paled in shock.

Lin Xuan took advantage of the Kui Yin Mountain Range’s shortage of spirit stones to buy valuable spiritual artifacts and rare medicinal ingredients at low prices. He then visited a Kui Moon Tribe shop to study Witcher cultivation methods and prepare for the competition, where he feared the elders might uncover his disguise.

• Lin Xuan bought three spiritual artifacts for nine hundred spirit stones and realized spirit stones were unusually valuable in the Kui Yin Mountain Range.
• Lin Xuan bought all nine Red Flame Fruit plants from a Foundation Establishment Realm Witcher for fifty spirit stones.
• Lin Xuan gathered many rare herbs and treasures, but rejected the idea of settling in the range because cultivators and Witchers were sworn enemies.
• Lin Xuan entered a Kui Moon Tribe shop to study Witcher cultivation methods and common knowledge.
• Lin Xuan considered the risk that the elders, including the Alliance's Grand Elder, might recognize his disguise during the competition.

Lin Xuan searched Kui Moon City’s market for Witchcraft manuals and discovered Xieluo Beast bones hidden inside a spirit tool, a valuable material for the Green Flame Qilin Armor. With the Witchcraft Assembly only seven days away, he began studying Witchcraft so he could imitate its techniques without revealing his identity.

• Lin Xuan bought several ordinary Witchcraft manuals and an Encyclopedia of Poisons from a bookshop run by a peak Foundation Establishment Witcher.
• After finding no further gains in the market, Lin Xuan returned to the Post House and sorted the herbs he had bought.
• Lin Xuan dismantled a bone shield and found Xieluo Beast bones, which he had long sought as a material for the Green Flame Qilin Armor.
• Lin Xuan began studying the Witchcraft manuals, planning to imitate a few techniques before the Witchcraft Assembly began in seven days.

Lin Xuan prepared to compete in the Witchcraft Assembly while searching for a way to steal a map from Star Palace. He encountered Ghost Emperor Haotian, who had come to meet Elder Hun Yuan and propose an alliance against the Qin Clan.

• Lin Xuan planned to compete for the Heavenly Azure Tribe and claim spirit pills made from four Sacred Fruits, while still seeking a way to steal the map.
• Master Withered Leaf visited Lin Xuan, praised his dedication to cultivation, and reminded him to rest before the Witchcraft Assembly.
• Lin Xuan approached Star Palace to investigate the map but sensed someone nearby and walked away before exposing himself.
• Lin Xuan recognized Ghost Emperor Haotian as he entered Star Palace with several Ink Moon Tribe Witchers.
• Elder Hun Yuan met Haotian, and Haotian proposed that the Ink Moon Tribe join the yin souls in attacking the Qin Clan.

Elder Hun Yuan agreed to consider the Ghost Emperor Haotian’s offer while secretly ordering mortals to watch him, and Lin Xuan returned safely to the Post House. Lin Xuan stayed for the Witchcraft Assembly, which began the next day with ancestral rites and the first round of contests.

• Elder Hun Yuan told Ghost Emperor Haotian he would consult the tribes about cooperating, then ordered outer disciples to monitor him because mortal watchers might evade Haotian’s suspicion.
• Lin Xuan escaped to the Post House and decided to stay in You Province to compete for the spiritual medicine despite fearing the Ghost Emperor.
• The Witchcraft Assembly began with ancestral ceremonies led by elders of the Kui Moon Tribe, whose strength impressed Lin Xuan.
• Nearly a hundred young witchers gathered for the competition; several weaker contestants forfeited, and stronger Foundation Establishment contestants received first-round byes.
• Lin Xuan noted that neither the Alliance Grand Elder nor Ghost Emperor Haotian appeared, then watched the contests begin across several protected arenas.

Lin Xuan advanced through the Witchcraft Assembly and faced Xiao He, a Dust Wind Tribe disciple seeking revenge on behalf of his master, Xiao Kun. Lin Xuan defeated him swiftly with a concealed poisonous banner, leaving the spectators stunned.

• Lin Xuan won his first two matches with the Crescent Blade and returned to the Post House, needing one more victory for his tribe to receive spirit medicine refined from four Sacred Fruits.
• On the third day, Lin Xuan drew Xiao He, whose master Xiao Kun had ordered him to cripple or kill Lin Xuan.
• Xiao He transformed his Ghost Snake Whip into a two-headed demon snake and attacked Lin Xuan with demonic fire and corpse-rotting poisonous mist.
• Lin Xuan emerged unharmed from Xiao He's poisonous mist, vanished, and appeared beside him with a small green banner.
• Lin Xuan released poisonous smoke at close range, and Xiao He fell unconscious before he could summon a protective barrier.

Lin Xuan won three matches, then deliberately lost to a stronger opponent to avoid further attention and secure his tribe’s share of spirit medicine. At the distribution ceremony, Old Ancestor Hun Yuan finally appeared, and Lin Xuan’s expression changed sharply when he saw him.

• Lin Xuan returned to the Post House after defeating Xiao Kun, then kept out of sight while the Witchcraft Assembly continued.
• Lin Xuan lost to a young genius from the Kui Moon Tribe, having already reached the top twelve and secured four spirit medicine pills for his tribe.
• The Kui Yin Tribe swept all three first places, and the top twelve gathered for the spirit medicine distribution ceremony.
• While waiting for Old Ancestor Hun Yuan, Lin Xuan overheard tension between Yun Feng and the old man surnamed Ye and worried that Ghost Emperor Haotian might cause trouble.
• Old Ancestor Hun Yuan arrived from Star Palace, and Lin Xuan’s expression changed wildly when he looked at the old man.

Lin Xuan watched a ceremony for the Witchcraft Assembly while recognizing that the man posing as Old Ancestor Hun Yuan was an impostor. The real Old Ancestor Hun Yuan emerged from the burning Star Palace as Ghost Emperor Haotian appeared, and the tribesmen learned that the yin souls and Qin Clan had gone to war again.

• Lin Xuan realized the man on the platform was disguised and endured the ceremony while planning to obtain the spiritual medicine and map.
• Old Ancestor Hun Yuan began distributing spirit pills to the Witchcraft Assembly finalists.
• Star Palace exploded and caught fire, and Ghost Emperor Haotian emerged from the blaze, wounded and disheveled.
• Yun Feng, the elderly man surnamed Ye, and the middle-aged woman confronted the supposed old ancestor as the real Old Ancestor Hun Yuan flew from the ruins.
• The dark-red-faced witcher revealed that Old Ancestor Hun Yuan had ordered him to impersonate him to confuse Ghost Emperor Haotian.
• The black-faced witcher explained that the yin souls and Qin Clan had resumed their war, and that Ghost Emperor Haotian had sought cooperation before scheming for the Ink Moon Tribe's inherited treasure.

Ghost Emperor Haotian and Old Ancestor Hun Yuan fought after Haotian tried to seize the Ink Moon Tribe’s inherited treasure, while the Witchers scrambled to evacuate. Haotian’s attack threw the assembly into chaos, leaving Lin Xuan’s chance to obtain the spirit herb thwarted and the battle unresolved.

• Ghost Emperor Haotian revealed that he had tried to steal the Ink Moon Tribe’s inherited treasure, but Old Ancestor Hun Yuan ambushed him at Star Palace, and their battle damaged much of it.
• The old man surnamed Ye ordered the Witchers to evacuate low-level disciples and gather Core Condensation cultivators to assist Old Ancestor Hun Yuan.
• The black-faced Witcher ended the Witchcraft Assembly and told Lin Xuan that the spirit pills would be delivered to the tribes later, frustrating Lin Xuan’s attempt to obtain the spirit herb.
• Ghost Emperor Haotian expanded his yin cloud and rained down black energy on the arena, killing several Witchers and throwing the gathering into chaos.
• Old Ancestor Hun Yuan roared in anger after one of his mortal descendants died, and Ghost Emperor Haotian answered with a taunt as his yin cloud churned.

Lin Xuan slipped into Star Palace while Old Ancestor Hun Yuan and the Witcher fought, hoping to find a map and spirit medicine. After learning the medicine had been taken but several Waste Pills remained, he entered the Spirit Medicine Room and discovered a hidden staircase leading underground.

• Lin Xuan sneaked into Star Palace while the two Nascent Soul Realm old monsters battled nearby.
• Lin Xuan knocked out a young Witcher assistant, searched his memories, and learned that several Waste Pills had been ruined during the spirit medicine’s refinement.
• Lin Xuan killed the assistant and used the man’s magic tool to enter the Spirit Medicine Room.
• Lin Xuan opened a hidden passage beneath a stone wall and disguised himself as the assistant before descending its stairs.
• Lin Xuan reached the bottom of the stairs, saw something ahead, and froze in surprise.