Chapter Summaries

After selling a large batch of pills, Lin Xuan was pursued by two Foundation Establishment Realm Demon Cultivators who wanted to rob him. He tricked them into searching for a disguised target, escaped their attention, and left resolved to grow stronger and reach Foundation Establishment.

• Two Foundation Establishment Realm Demon Cultivators followed Lin Xuan after he left the Marketplace, while Sea Dragon Sect cultivators noticed the pursuit but chose not to intervene.
• Lin Xuan spotted the pursuers and flew into a forest, where he used his backup plan to conceal his identity and cultivation.
• The Demon Cultivators searched the forest and questioned a foolish-looking youth who was actually Lin Xuan in disguise.
• After the Demon Cultivators left, Lin Xuan restored his true appearance and reflected that he had relied on luck and deception to survive.
• Lin Xuan departed, determined to increase his strength and reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.

Lin Xuan secluded himself on a desolate mountain to refine Top-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pills, hoping to use them to establish his foundation. On the forty-ninth day of refinement, Tan Ming arrived to rob him, and Lin Xuan trapped him in the cave’s formation and attacked with fiery rain.

• Lin Xuan bought Perseverance Grass, traveled to a remote mountain, and set up a cave and protective formation.
• Lin Xuan spent half a year studying pill refinement and practicing with ordinary ingredients while preparing to refine Top-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pills.
• Lin Xuan used his cauldron, Spirit Stones, and an Earth Fire Talisman to refine the pills over forty-nine days.
• Tan Ming approached the cave and tried to persuade Lin Xuan to let him inside, while Lin Xuan suspected he intended to rob him.
• Lin Xuan activated the formation and sent fiery rain at Tan Ming, who raised a defensive barrier and a Spirit Tool resembling floral cloth.

Lin Xuan used his array, the Sky-Soaring Bird, and Fierce Ghosts to defeat Tan Ming while completing a top-grade Marrow Cleansing Pill. After absorbing Tan Ming’s soul and taking his treasures, Lin Xuan destroyed the cultivation site and flew away to find a safer place to cultivate.

• Lin Xuan changed the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams Array’s attack and summoned the Sky-Soaring Bird and Fierce Ghosts to fight Tan Ming.
• Lin Xuan used Innate Fire to finish refining the Marrow Cleansing Pill and replenished his spirit power with Spirit Stones.
• Lin Xuan found Tan Ming dead, captured his soul in the Hundred Soul Banner, and took the treasures from his Storage Bag.
• Lin Xuan recalled the Sky-Soaring Bird, collapsed the mountain peak to erase traces of the cultivation cave, and flew away.

Lin Xuan arrived in Tianshui City and bought a supposedly haunted manor with a small Spirit Vein as a secluded place to attempt Foundation Establishment. There he captured Lin Yue'er, a ghost with a rare Pure Yin Body, and offered to teach her the Ghost Path if she acknowledged him as her master.

• Lin Xuan chose bustling Tianshui City as a safer place to establish his foundation and searched for a quiet residence.
• A waiter directed Lin Xuan to a haunted manor outside the city, and Lin Xuan bought it cheaply from its elderly owner.
• Lin Xuan discovered a ghost in the manor's rear building and captured her with a spiritual-power technique.
• Lin Xuan recognized that the ghost, Lin Yue'er, had a rare Pure Yin Body and could become a Ghost Cultivator.
• Lin Xuan offered to spare Lin Yue'er and teach her the Ghost Path if she acknowledged him as her master.

Lin Xuan bound Lin Yue'er to him as his spirit servant and cultivated for nearly a hundred days before reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm. Realizing he needed new pills to continue advancing but could not rely on sects for the waste pills he purified, he left his manor to seek another way forward.

• Lin Yue'er agreed to become Lin Xuan's master-bound servant, and he gave her an introductory Ghost Path cultivation technique.
• Lin Xuan swallowed a Top-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pill and began cultivating in seclusion to break through to Foundation Establishment.
• After nearly a hundred days, Lin Xuan emerged as a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, while Lin Yue'er had also strengthened her ghostly form.
• Lin Xuan realized Marrow Cleansing Pills would no longer help him and that he needed Foundation Establishment Realm pills to continue cultivating.
• Lin Xuan rejected joining a sect for supplies and left his manor with Lin Yue'er to seek a way to obtain the pills he needed.

Lin Xuan traveled to Black Wind Mountain to search for rare materials, saved three siblings from a high-grade Demonic Beast, and learned about the Treasure Hunting Fair. He disguised himself as a low-level cultivator and reached the fair’s hidden entrance.

• Lin Xuan flew toward a distant battle and found three Spirit Movement Stage siblings facing a Single-Horned Giant Python.
• Lin Xuan killed the python with his Ice Needle Technique, saving the siblings and revealing his Foundation Establishment Realm strength.
• The siblings told Lin Xuan about the Treasure Hunting Fair, where low-level cultivators traded unwanted goods.
• Lin Xuan decided to attend the fair, concealed his cultivation and changed his appearance to avoid attention.
• Lin Xuan reached the location and spotted the simple Illusion Formation concealing the fair.

Lin Xuan found a Spirit Herb Mountain apprentice selling Waste Pills at a Treasure Hunting Fair and learned they could modestly improve Spirit Movement Stage cultivators’ cultivation. The other cultivators began buying the pills, while Lin Xuan’s interest in them remained unstated.

• Lin Xuan entered the Treasure Hunting Fair and surveyed its low-level cultivators and wares, finding the offerings disappointing.
• Lin Xuan spotted a stall marked “Waste Pills” and approached its middle-aged owner.
• The stall owner revealed his Spirit Herb Mountain token and explained that Waste Pills made from Foundation Establishment pills could benefit Spirit Movement Stage cultivators.
• The stall owner estimated that one such Waste Pill offered about one-fifth to one-third the benefit of a Low-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pill.
• The gathered cultivators, despite being disappointed by the pills’ limited effect, began buying them.

Lin Xuan bought a bottle of Foundation Establishment Realm Waste Pills at the Treasure Hunting Fair and planned to seek more at Spirit Herb Mountain. Before he could leave, a violent Foundation Establishment Realm Demon Cultivator attacked the fair and began robbing its attendees, while Lin Xuan watched without intervening.

• Lin Xuan silenced the cultivators who challenged him, paid twenty Spirit Stones for the Waste Pills, and formed a plan involving Spirit Herb Mountain.
• An explosion destroyed the illusion formation at the marketplace entrance, and a Foundation Establishment Realm Demon Cultivator demanded the crowd surrender their treasures.
• Lin Xuan judged the robber to be a powerful Demon Cultivator and chose to observe rather than fight or escape immediately.
• The Demon Cultivator drained a defiant young man and a Thunder Cloud Villa disciple into corpses, ignoring the latter's sect affiliation.
• The robber forced the attendees to surrender their possessions, killing those who secretly tried to hide treasures, while Lin Xuan remained uninvolved.

Lin Xuan used his concealed Foundation Establishment cultivation to kill the Demon Cultivator who had been robbing the cultivators at the Marketplace. He left briefly to avoid suspicion, then returned and discovered the rich haul in the Demon Cultivator's Storage Bag.

• The Demon Cultivator attacked Zhang Tao and his two companions, while threatening to kill any low-level cultivator who tried to flee.
• Lin Xuan watched the trio fall into a disadvantage, then joined the battle with his flying sword.
• Lin Xuan revealed his true cultivation and killed the Demon Cultivator with a transformed flying sword, taking his Storage Bag.
• Lin Xuan flew away, then quietly circled back after the other cultivators had left the deserted Marketplace.
• Lin Xuan searched the Storage Bag and found over a thousand Spirit Stones, Talismans, pills, and the Demon Cultivator's massive sword.

Lin Xuan followed Wu Tian and learned that Spirit Herb Mountain admitted cultivators based on their passion and talent for pill refinement, not their cultivation. Determined to obtain its accumulated Foundation Establishment Realm Waste Pills, Lin Xuan headed for the mountain despite lacking a Spirit Root or any known alchemy talent.

• Lin Xuan caught up with Wu Tian after he left the Marketplace and asked whether he was a disciple of Spirit Herb Mountain.
• Lin Xuan claimed he wanted to join Spirit Herb Mountain to pursue pill refinement, and Wu Tian explained that he lacked the authority to recommend him.
• Wu Tian explained that Spirit Herb Mountain admitted newcomers with the sect master's approval or the support of more than three elders, and that applicants needed passion or talent for pill refinement.
• Lin Xuan realized Spirit Herb Mountain might hold many Foundation Establishment Realm Waste Pills because sects entrusted it with pill refining.
• Lin Xuan resolved to join Spirit Herb Mountain despite his lack of a Spirit Root and flew toward it.

Lin Xuan arrived at Spirit Herb Mountain seeking to join the sect rather than have pills refined. Sect Master Perfected Master Tongyu, troubled by the shortage of alchemists, was delighted to hear that a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator wanted to join and went to meet him.

• Lin Xuan reached Flame Mountain and waited with other visitors to enter Spirit Herb Mountain.
• A mortal attendant led the visiting cultivators into the Mountain within a Mountain and asked Lin Xuan what pill he wanted refined.
• Lin Xuan told the attendant that he wished to join Spirit Herb Mountain.
• Perfected Master Tongyu failed again to refine a high-grade Marrow Cleansing Pill after twenty batches of wasted materials.
• After learning that a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator wished to join, Perfected Master Tongyu decided to receive Lin Xuan personally while upholding the sect's requirement for alchemy talent.

Lin Xuan sought to join Spirit Herb Mountain to gain access to its accumulated Foundation Establishment Realm Waste Pills, and he used its alchemy test to secure entry. After failing to refine the pills normally, he purified one into a Mid-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pill, leaving his true motive concealed.

• Lin Xuan learned from an outer sect disciple that several of Spirit Herb Mountain’s alchemists had recently died and gave the boy a sharp sword in exchange for information.
• Perfected Master Tongyu welcomed Lin Xuan and tested his claimed interest in alchemy by giving him ingredients for three Marrow Cleansing Pills.
• Lin Xuan entered the Alchemy Chamber, combined the ingredients, and failed to refine the pills despite making a genuine effort.
• Lin Xuan purified one Waste Pill with the Blue Star Sea, turning it into a Mid-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pill.
• Lin Xuan planned to join Spirit Herb Mountain to obtain its Foundation Establishment Realm Waste Pills and ruled out stealing them because the risk was too great.

Lin Xuan joined Spirit Herb Mountain after impressing Perfected Master Tongyu with his unexpected talent for refining a mid-grade pill, and became the sect master's disciple. While cautiously pursuing his goal of obtaining waste pills, he studied alchemy and experimented with turning Red Silk Grass into pills, successfully producing several hundred.

• Lin Xuan deliberately purified one mid-grade pill during his test to attract Spirit Herb Mountain's attention without seeming too extraordinary.
• Perfected Master Tongyu mistook Lin Xuan's success for exceptional alchemy talent and offered to take him as his disciple, which Lin Xuan accepted.
• Lin Xuan settled into his new cave residence and studied Spirit Herb Mountain's alchemy manuals, improving his success rate at purifying waste Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Over three months, Lin Xuan avoided drawing attention while cultivating with purified pills and reading widely about alchemy and other subjects.
• Lin Xuan gathered one hundred stalks of Red Silk Grass and refined their purified liquid in his alchemy room.
• Lin Xuan opened the furnace and collected several hundred newly made green pills.

Lin Xuan gained Perfected Master Tongyu’s trust and was appointed Spirit Herb Mountain’s reserve sect master, bringing him closer to obtaining failed pills. When he recognized Ma Tianxiong among the visiting cultivators, Lin Xuan invited him in and learned that the Fire Spirit Sect had fallen, largely thanks to Qin.

• Lin Xuan used his Hidden Spirit Pills and spent half a year establishing himself at Spirit Herb Mountain while carefully displaying his alchemy talent.
• Perfected Master Tongyu appointed Lin Xuan reserve sect master, and Lin Xuan reluctantly accepted the position for the benefits it brought.
• Lin Xuan recognized Ma Tianxiong, a former acquaintance from Floating Cloud Valley, among the visitors and chose to receive him personally.
• Lin Xuan told Ma Tianxiong he came from Yanzhou and asked him about the region’s situation.
• Ma Tianxiong reported that the Fire Spirit Sect had collapsed after its secret attacks on allied cultivation groups were exposed, and credited the defeat to Junior Sister Qin, whom Lin Xuan identified as Fairy in the Clouds.

Lin Xuan heard Ma Tianxiong recount how Qin Yan helped destroy the Fire Spirit Sect without revealing Lin Xuan’s whereabouts. He learned that the sect’s survivors remained at large and was stunned to hear Qin Yan had been named Floating Cloud Valley’s reserve sect leader.

• Lin Xuan asked Ma Tianxiong about Qin Yan, and Ma Tianxiong described how she killed the Fire Spirit Sect Leader and helped bring down the sect.
• Ma Tianxiong explained that Elder Li and a few other powerful survivors escaped, despite the pursuit orders issued by You Province’s sects.
• Lin Xuan regretted that the Fire Spirit Sect’s collapse made it harder to learn the secret of the ancient Jade Pendant, but focused on finding waste pills.
• Ma Tianxiong said Floating Cloud Valley had become dominant in Yanzhou, then admitted it could not match the sects of You Province.
• Ma Tianxiong revealed that Master Yunhe had appointed Qin Yan the reserve sect leader, shocking Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan learned that Qin Yan had reached Foundation Establishment and been appointed Floating Cloud Valley’s next sect leader. He agreed to refine a Martial Cultivation Pill for Ma Tianxiong, who needed it to overcome a cultivation flaw, and took the ingredients to the Alchemy Chamber.

• Ma Tianxiong told Lin Xuan that Qin Yan had reached Foundation Establishment with a mid-grade Marrow Cleansing Pill and was named Floating Cloud Valley’s future sect leader.
• Lin Xuan learned that Ma Tianxiong had entered cultivation through martial arts and faced a hidden flaw that threatened his chance of Foundation Establishment.
• Ma Tianxiong explained that a Martial Cultivation Pill could resolve the flaw and that he had gathered its ingredients but could find no alchemist willing to refine it.
• Lin Xuan agreed to make the pill and told Ma Tianxiong to return the next day to collect it.
• After Ma Tianxiong handed over the ingredients and left, Lin Xuan went to the Alchemy Chamber and reflected on the help Ma Tianxiong had given him.

Lin Xuan refined Martial Cultivation Pills for Ma Tianxiong, who agreed to deliver his Sound Transmission Talisman to Qin Yan. After becoming Spirit Herb Mountain’s designated successor, Lin Xuan entered the Waste Pill Room to seek Foundation Establishment Realm waste pills for his research, but Jin Tao hesitated to provide them.

• Lin Xuan gave Ma Tianxiong Martial Cultivation Pills and refused his payment, asking him instead to deliver a Sound Transmission Talisman to Miss Qin.
• Ma Tianxiong accepted the task and left, while Lin Xuan struggled to stop thinking about Qin Yan and returned to cultivation.
• Perfected Master Tongyu announced Lin Xuan as the next sect master, and Lin Xuan won over doubters by producing a top-grade Marrow Cleansing Pill during an assessment.
• Lin Xuan used his command token to enter Spirit Herb Mountain’s Waste Pill Room and asked Jin Tao for Foundation Establishment Realm waste pills.
• Jin Tao hesitated because the Foundation Establishment Realm waste pills were recorded and could not be handed out casually.

Lin Xuan secretly took the waste pills from Spirit Herb Mountain’s storehouse and staged a theft by a powerful ghost to conceal his involvement. The pills were gone, and Jin Tao believed Lin Xuan had been attacked while trying to stop the thief.

• Lin Xuan marked a Jade Slip as proof and persuaded Jin Tao to let him enter the Waste Pill Room alone.
• Lin Xuan summoned Lin Yue'er and explained his plan to take the waste pills without implicating himself.
• Lin Xuan transferred the pills into his Storage Bracelet, replaced them with illusions, and disguised Lin Yue'er as a powerful ghost.
• Lin Xuan and Lin Yue'er staged a fight, and the ghost nearly struck Jin Tao with a spear before Lin Xuan pushed him out of danger.
• Lin Yue'er seized the waste pills and escaped as Lin Xuan pretended to be poisoned, leaving Jin Tao convinced that a ghost had stolen them.

Lin Xuan escaped suspicion after the ruined Foundation Establishment Pills were stolen and purified more than a thousand of them. He learned that Meridian-Strengthening Pills could greatly accelerate his cultivation, but making them required Seven-Star Grass from Azure Cloud Mountain, leaving him considering how to obtain it.

• Perfected Master Tongyu and the elders decided not to investigate the missing ruined pills and instead strengthened defenses at key locations.
• Lin Xuan returned to his cave residence and purified more than a thousand Foundation Establishment Pills over the next month.
• Lin Xuan learned that he could take up to fifteen Foundation Establishment Pills a day if he first took a Meridian-Strengthening Pill.
• Lin Xuan discovered that Meridian-Strengthening Pills required the rare immortal herb Seven-Star Grass as a catalyst.
• Elder Zhao told Lin Xuan that Azure Cloud Mountain had a stalk of Seven-Star Grass in its medicinal garden, and Lin Xuan worried over how to obtain it.

Lin Xuan learned that Azure Cloud Mountain had invited the sects of You Province to celebrate a new Nascent Soul cultivator, while Perfected Master Tongyu explained the gathering’s political purpose and asked Lin Xuan to represent Spirit Herb Mountain. Lin Xuan agreed, seeing the trip as a chance to steal the Seven-Star Grass, and left with treasures secured from his master.

• Lin Xuan continued cultivating while waiting for a safe chance to obtain the Seven-Star Grass needed for the Meridian-Strengthening Pill.
• Perfected Master Tongyu summoned Lin Xuan and told him Azure Cloud Mountain had invited him to a gathering celebrating an elder’s successful Nascent Soul formation.
• Perfected Master Tongyu explained that Azure Cloud Mountain was using the gathering to display its new strength and unsettle the balance among You Province’s three great sects.
• Perfected Master Tongyu asked Lin Xuan to attend in his place because he was occupied and wished to avoid being pressured to choose sides.
• Lin Xuan accepted the assignment while pretending reluctance, hoping to find an opportunity to steal the Seven-Star Grass amid the gathering.
• Lin Xuan bargained with Perfected Master Tongyu for treasures to protect him on the journey, then left his master’s cave residence satisfied.