Chapter Summaries

Ling Pengyun and the Ling Clan attacked Together Yang Mountain, where Bai Jiaqian and Bai Yutian realized the assault was revenge for the Earthly Fiend Sword Formation and that outside help had been blocked. After hours of fighting, Ling Yunhong used a Formation Breaking Talisman to destroy the Bai Family's protection formation, leaving the clan exposed.

• Bai Jiaqian confronted the attackers, and Bai Yutian identified the Immortal Spirit Crane King and Wind Shadow Peng as Ling Clan beasts seeking revenge over the Earthly Fiend Sword Formation.
• Bai Jiaqian discovered that a Shielding Talisman had blocked the Mother-Child Tokens, preventing the other Myriad Unities County families and Bai Jiayun from receiving a warning.
• Bai Jiaqian activated the Gale Golden Blade Grand Formation, but Ling Pengyun used repeated Water Snake Techniques and Nameless's Black Armor Heavenly Qi to withstand its attacks.
• Ling Pengyun trapped the Bai Family's formless Shadowless Golden Blade inside the Sand Soil Bronze Bell, greatly weakening the Gale Golden Blade Grand Formation.
• Ling Pengyun and the other attackers battered Together Yang Mountain's formation for nearly two hours, then Ling Yunhong used a Formation Breaking Talisman to collapse it.

The Ling Clan annihilated the Bai Clan’s stronghold, avenged Ling Ruxian, and discovered a hidden Micro Spirit Stone Mine in the Bai Clan’s territory. After concealing the mine from the Thousand Stars Pavilion, Ling Pengyun and the others left the county with plans to return and exploit it later.

• Ling Yunhong and the Ling Clan forces killed Bai Jiaqian, Bai Yutian, and the Bai Clan cultivators at Together Yang Mountain, then looted the repository and found twenty-five thousand spirit stones.
• Ling Yunhong suspected the Bai Clan had been hiding a secret, and the Ling Clan searched its records and caves but found no clue beyond the Earthly Fiend Sword Formation inheritance.
• Ling Yunhong found the surviving Bai Clan Foundation Establishment cultivator guarding a concealed valley, and Ling Pengyun and the others killed him before questioning the valley’s guards.
• Ling Pengyun and the others discovered a partly excavated Micro Spirit Stone Mine beneath the valley and decided to wait before mining it to avoid drawing the Thousand Stars Pavilion’s attention.
• Ling Pengyun proposed removing the valley’s concealment array and filling the tunnel, and the Ling Clan concealed the mine before leaving Bai Clan territory.

After the Bai Clan's destruction went uninvestigated, Ling Yunhong sent Ling Pengyun to Serpent Dragon Lake to borrow Mining Puppets and attend an auction for Foundation Establishment Spiritual Objects. Ling Pengyun reached the sect's mountain gate and gained entry using a token from Yang Siling.

• A returning Bai Clan Qi Refinement cultivator discovered the clan's destruction and reported it to Thousand Stars Pavilion, whose investigators found nothing.
• Nearby families seized the Bai Clan's low-order spirit veins, its surviving Qi Refinement cultivators sold the ancestral mountain, and the new Bai Clan family was later exterminated by an old enemy.
• Ling Yunhong asked Ling Pengyun to borrow Mining Puppets from his cousin and gave him thirty thousand spirit stones to seek Foundation Establishment Spiritual Objects at the Serpent Dragon Lake auction.
• Ling Pengyun rode the Wind Shadow Peng to Serpent Dragon Lake, where the Ling Clan's shop was managed by his father, Ling Xiaoshun.
• At the mountain gate, Ling Pengyun showed Yang Siling's token, and the guards opened the formation so he could enter.

Ling Pengyun visited Yang Siling to borrow Mining Puppets and proposed that she establish a Chamber of Commerce jointly with the Ling and Yang Clans. Yang Siling consulted the Spirit Talisman True Person, who was tempted by the plan.

• Ling Pengyun told Yang Siling that the Ling Clan had discovered a Micro Spirit Stone Mine, and she agreed to lend him ten First Grade Mining Puppets.
• Ling Pengyun gave Yang Siling Second Grade Fruit Flower Honey, learned that her family members were occupied elsewhere, and considered whether Yin Yang Primordial Qi might restore her damaged foundation.
• Ling Pengyun proposed that Yang Siling establish a Chamber of Commerce and explained how the Ling and Yang Clans could supply it with spiritual goods.
• Yang Siling raised concerns about the business's scale and supply, then decided to seek her father-in-law's approval.
• Yang Siling explained the proposal to the Spirit Talisman True Person, who became somewhat tempted.

Yang Siling secured the Spirit Talisman Old Ancestor’s support for a commerce association, and the Ling and Yang Clans agreed to establish it together. The Sky Talisman Commerce Association opened the prospect of shops across the region, and its announcement drew merchants and cultivators seeking to join.

• The Spirit Talisman Old Ancestor agreed to provide shops, spiritual goods, and talismans for the association in exchange for twenty percent of the profits, and ordered his subordinates to notify sect leaders and reserve shop locations.
• Yang Siling told Ling Pengyun the terms, and he agreed to the profit share before joining her in traveling to the Yang Clan with Pei Xue.
• Ling Yunhong and the Yang Clan’s leaders approved the venture, and the three parties named it the Sky Talisman Commerce Association and settled its staffing, shops, and profit arrangements.
• The Ling and Yang Clans prepared goods and publicized their partnership, prompting Foundation Establishment families and shopkeepers across the Hundred Spirits Sect’s territory to seek a share in the association.

Ling Pengyun attended an auction, strengthened the Ling Clan’s spirit-plant operation, and helped launch the Sky Talisman Commerce Association with the Yang Clan and Yang Siling. The association’s fifteen pavilions opened successfully, drawing crowds and establishing a profitable foothold across the region.

• Ling Pengyun visited Yan Siyi and Yan Cang on Serpent Dragon Island, gave them spiritual gifts, and spent the evening talking with them.
• At the Serpent Dragon Marketplace auction, Ling Pengyun bought two bottles of Hundred Spirits Water and two Meridian Protecting Pills, then returned the items to Ling Yunhong.
• Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong transplanted the clan’s spirit fruit and mulberry trees into Falling Dusk Mountain’s Spirit Plant Garden.
• The Ling Clan, Yang Clan, and Yang Siling publicized the Sky Talisman Commerce Association and opened fifteen Sky Talisman Thousand Treasure Pavilions across three provinces.
• The pavilions’ bundled promotions attracted large crowds, and the association used its revenue to buy raw materials and sell finished spiritual items at a profit.
• The Hundred Spirits Chamber of Commerce did not interfere with the new association, apparently because the Spirit Talisman Old Ancestor backed it.

The Ling Clan, Yang Clan, and Yang Siling expanded the Sky Talisman Commerce Association and strengthened the Ling Clan over three years as two more clan members reached Foundation Establishment. On Falling Dusk Mountain, Ling Pengyun encouraged the young silkworm farmer Ling Chengping to cultivate while she cared for the Spirit Mulberry Trees, and he continued working against a cultivation bottleneck.

• The Ling Clan, Yang Clan, and Yang Siling held a major Heavenly Talisman Auction in Serpent Dragon Marketplace, using five Foundation Establishment spiritual objects to build the Sky Talisman Commerce Association's reputation.
• Over the next three years, Ling Pengshan and Ling Penglin successfully reached Foundation Establishment, bringing the Ling Clan's Foundation Establishment cultivators to twelve, while the commerce association expanded to twenty shops.
• Ling Chengping told Ling Pengyun that the thirty Spirit Mulberry Trees had produced a larger crop, and he allowed her to keep five hundred mulberries while requiring her to improve her cultivation.
• Ling Pengyun gave Ling Chengping three First Rank Middle Grade Stone Spirit Walnuts, and she returned to her cave abode to enter seclusion.
• Ling Pengyun reflected on Ling Chengping's hardships and talent for silkworm farming, then continued reading as he slowly polished his Foundation Establishment Eighth Layer bottleneck.

Ling Pengyun joined four other late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators on an expedition to Purple Scorpion Mountain to hunt demon beasts for materials and Foundation Establishment resources. After scouting a second-tier spirit mountain, they chose to attack its scorpion demons for their valuable shells.

• Ling Yunhong told Ling Pengyun that their families needed demon beast cores and materials for the Sky Talisman Auction, and Ling Pengyun agreed to join the expedition.
• Ling Pengyun left Falling Dusk Mountain with Ling Yunhong, Ling Pengxing, Yang Changxing, and Yang Mingtian, bringing the Black Armored Turtle and Wind Shadow Peng.
• After more than thirty days of travel, the group reached Purple Scorpion Mountain and sent the Immortal Spirit Crane King and Wind Shadow Peng to scout a second-tier spirit mountain.
• The two spirit beasts drew out five Foundation Establishment Yellow Rock Scorpions, including one at the Late Stage, and reported their strength to the group.
• Ling Pengyun said the scorpions' sturdy shells could supply materials for defensive magical artifacts, so the five cultivators attacked the spirit mountain.
• Yang Changxing burned the mountain with his furnace's flames, killing many Qi Training scorpions while the five Foundation Establishment scorpions resisted.

Ling Pengyun and his companions hunted demon beasts in the Purple Scorpion Mountain region, gaining materials and inner cores while agreeing that he would help the Yang Clan refine a medium-sized flying boat. They discovered a Golden Core tribulation and a powerful Amethyst Scorpion Demon, then returned to Jing Province as turmoil loomed in the region.

• Ling Pengyun smashed two Foundation Establishment scorpion demons with the Azure Sea Heavy Yuan Pearl, and his group exterminated the pack and divided its treasures.
• Ling Pengyun persuaded his companions to help kill two Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Kun Cloud Pengs so he could refine a medium-sized flying boat; Yang Changxing agreed the Ling Clan could keep the corpses if Ling Pengyun later helped the Yang Clan make one.
• Over half a month, Ling Pengyun's party slew thousands of demon beasts and collected six Foundation Establishment Completion inner cores.
• Ling Pengyun and the others saw tribulation clouds over Purple Scorpion Mountain and spotted Ten Thousand Beasts True Person riding the Golden Feather Great Peng toward them, so they left the region.
• The group saw the Golden Core Amethyst Scorpion Demon fight Ten Thousand Beasts True Person and the Golden Feather Great Peng, then continued their retreat and returned to Jing Province more than a month later.
• Yang Changxing asked what materials were needed for a medium-sized flying boat, and Ling Pengyun said three stalks of Second Rank Azure Spirit Bamboo would suffice, with Second Rank spirit iron as a slower alternative.

Ling Yunhong and Ling Pengyun negotiated with Yang Changxing over Azure Spirit Bamboo and agreed to help the Yang Clan refine a medium-sized flying boat. They then discussed Wen Nianling’s family and arranged for her to reunite with Ling Pengliang and Ling Chengyuan at the Rock Scale Snake Den after its spirit vein was upgraded.

• Ling Yunhong agreed to give the Yang Clan three Second Rank Azure Spirit Bamboo plants in exchange for one less bottle of Small Hundred Spirits Water and future repairs and reforging by Ling Pengyun.
• Yang Changxing departed with Yang Mingtian and Ling Pengxing, who would supervise the refinement of Small Hundred Spirits Water from six demon beast inner cores.
• Ling Yunhong and Ling Pengyun visited Wen Nianling, urged her to focus less on repaying debts, and learned that her son Ling Chengyuan had Three Spirit Roots and talent for spirit plants.
• Ling Yunhong proposed that Wen Nianling move to the Rock Scale Snake Den and said the Ling Clan would work with the Yang Clan to upgrade its spirit vein.
• Ling Yunhong invited Wen Nianling to assist with refining a medium-sized flying boat once she had recovered, then returned with Ling Pengyun to Great Fortune Cave Residence.

Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong refined a Second Rank Low Grade medium-sized flying boat using a Foundation Establishment Peng demon’s materials and tested its speed and capacity. They named it the Wind Cloud Flying Boat and returned to the Hundred Arts House to refine the remaining three sets of materials.

• Ling Pengyun began refining the flying boat, processing the Peng demon’s bones, inner core, and three stalks of Azure Spirit Bamboo with help from Ling Yunhong and Wen Nianling.
• Ling Pengyun combined the materials and inscribed four spirit inscription restrictions, while Ling Yunhong and Wen Nianling helped suppress their mutual repulsion so he could finish the boat.
• Ling Pengyun completed a low-quality Second Rank Low Grade medium-sized flying boat, and Ling Yunhong and Wen Nianling encouraged him despite its flaws.
• Ling Pengyun, Ling Yunhong, and Wen Nianling tested the flying boat, finding that it carried up to thirty-five people and traveled eighteen thousand li per day, or thirty-six thousand li with the Wind Cloud Escape Technique.
• Ling Pengyun, Ling Yunhong, and Wen Nianling named the craft the Wind Cloud Flying Boat and returned to the Hundred Arts House to continue refining.

After returning to Falling Dusk Mountain, Ling Pengyun gave Ling Chengping a Little Thunderous Rabbit and spent time refining magic items before meeting Yan Siyi. Yan Siyi gave him Mystic Water Spirit Iron, and he presented her with a valuable Thunderous Robe, leaving them alone together after Ling Chengping withdrew.

• Ling Pengyun returned to Falling Dusk Mountain, found Ling Chengping had reached the Qi Training Fourth Layer, and gave her a Little Thunderous Rabbit.
• Ling Chengping placed a Recognition of Ownership Restriction on the rabbit and began taming it while Ling Pengyun tended the spirit plants and refined Second Rank magic items.
• Yan Siyi visited Falling Dusk Mountain and learned that a Golden Core Demon Beast had strengthened the Purple Scorpion Mountain region's attacks on the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect.
• Yan Siyi gave Ling Pengyun ten jin of Mystic Water Spirit Iron, which she had refined from ore bought near Serpent Dragon Lake.
• Ling Pengyun gave Yan Siyi a Second Grade Middle Rank Thunderous Robe that preserved the Thunderous Escape technique.
• Ling Chengping realized the two cared for each other, gave them privacy, and returned to her cave abode to enter seclusion.

Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi acknowledged their love, and Yan Cang approved their marriage after Ling Pengyun promised she would be his only partner. Their families agreed to hold the wedding feast at Ling Clan Mountain on the fifteenth of the following month, and the elders began planning it.

• Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi confessed their mutual feelings and became intimate after spending years growing closer.
• Ling Pengyun asked Yan Siyi to meet their elders, and the two visited Yan Cang at Cangdao Small Courtyard with gifts.
• Yan Cang asked whether Ling Pengyun would remain devoted only to Yan Siyi, and Ling Pengyun promised she would be his sole partner for life.
• Yan Cang approved their relationship, and Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi received congratulations from Yang Siling, Yang Qiuyun, Ling Xiaoshun, and other relatives.
• The elders agreed to hold Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi's wedding feast at Ling Clan Mountain on the fifteenth of the following month, with the Ling Clan covering the expenses.
• Ling Pengyun, Yan Siyi, and their elders began discussing the wedding arrangements with Ling Yunhong and the other Ling Clan leaders.

Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi held a lavish wedding at Lingxiao Mountain, where family, clan members, and guests gathered to celebrate. After the three-day feast, the newlyweds agreed that Ling Pengyun would accompany Yan Siyi to Serpent Dragon Lake each autumn so they could visit their family without neglecting his spirit plants.

• The Ling Clan welcomed cultivators from across the Hundred Spirits Sect territory to Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi's wedding feast.
• Ling Pengyun greeted Yan Siyi as she arrived by crane-drawn bridal sedan, and they entered the Ancestral Hall together.
• Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi completed the wedding rites, lifted the veil, drank spirit tea, and toasted their guests.
• The couple counted wedding gifts worth nearly ten thousand spirit stones, and the Ling Clan hosted the feast for three days.
• After the feast, Ling Xiaoshun and Yang Qiuyun planned to manage the Serpent Dragon Marketplace shop, while Yan Cang planned to return to oversee the Spirit Plant Hall at Serpent Dragon Lake.
• Ling Pengyun offered to accompany Yan Siyi to Serpent Dragon Lake each autumn, easing her concern about being separated from Yan Cang.

After reaching Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer, Ling Pengyun joined Wu Hong in hunting demon beasts around Serpent Dragon Lake. Wu Hong borrowed spirit stones from Ling Pengyun for his friend Liu Luo and persuaded his mother to let him attend the White Cloud Auction with Ling Pengyun.

• Yan Siyi cooked Second Rank spirit food to help Ling Pengyun break through to Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer, and the two later traveled to Serpent Dragon Lake.
• Ling Pengyun and Wu Hong hunted Foundation Establishment demon beasts together and returned to meet Liu Luo outside the mountain gate.
• Liu Luo asked Wu Hong to lend him six thousand spirit stones so he could bid on Gold Cloud Iron at the White Cloud Auction, and Wu Hong secured the money from Ling Pengyun.
• Wu Hong invited Ling Pengyun to the auction and asked him to help persuade Yang Siling to let him go.
• Ling Pengyun agreed to accompany Wu Hong, and Yang Siling ultimately gave her permission for the trip.

Ling Pengyun reached White Cloud Market Town with Wu Hong and Liu Luo to attend the White Cloud Auction, consigning twelve magical artifacts before finding a rare brewing heritage at a stall. He bought the complete first-rank heritage for the Ling Clan and offered its seller a Guest Elder position, but the old man declined and left.

• Ling Pengyun and his companions entered crowded White Cloud Market Town after traveling from Serpent Dragon Lake and settled at the Hundred Spirits Talisman Hall.
• Ling Pengyun warned Wu Hong and Liu Luo to stay in their courtyard, then consigned twelve Second Rank Low Grade magical artifacts at the White Cloud Auction House.
• Ling Pengyun found a wine seller in the stall district and offered to buy his brewing heritage at fifty percent above market price.
• The old man sold Ling Pengyun the complete Zhang Family Brewing Heritage for three thousand spirit stones, and Ling Pengyun confirmed it contained recipes and methods for nine first-rank spirit wines.
• Ling Pengyun invited the old man to become a Ling Clan Guest Elder, but the itinerant cultivator declined because he feared losing his freedom.

Ling Pengyun, Wu Hong, and Liu Luo attended the White Cloud Auction, where Ling Pengyun sold artifacts and bought spirit items for his wife, Yan Siyi, while Liu Luo acquired Gold Cloud Iron for his lifebound sword. The auction ended with Thousand Stars Pavilion’s Liu Qing buying rare Third Rank Crimson Fire Treasure Crystal, leaving Ling Pengyun mindful of the Pavilion’s history with the Ling Clan.

• Ling Pengyun, Wu Hong, and Liu Luo entered the White Cloud Auction House and received a private room because Ling Pengyun had previously consigned twelve magical artifacts there.
• Ling Pengyun sold his twelve Second Rank Low Grade magical artifacts for nineteen thousand three hundred and ninety-five spirit stones after the auction fee, and he bought nine Longevity Enhancing Spirit Apricots.
• Liu Luo bid eight thousand spirit stones for Second Rank High Grade Gold Cloud Iron to forge his lifebound flying sword, while Wu Hong watched without bidding.
• Ling Pengyun bought twenty bottles of Profound Yang Spirit Liquid for Yan Siyi, who cultivated fire and was at the peak of Foundation Establishment Fifth Layer.
• Ling Pengyun recognized the rosacea-nosed wine-brewer among the bidders for Profound Yang Water and saw concealed cultivators follow the old man after he left with his purchase.
• Liu Qing, Supreme Elder of Thousand Stars Pavilion, offered sixty thousand spirit stones for ten jin of Third Rank Crimson Fire Treasure Crystal and won it without competition, prompting Ling Pengyun to recall the Pavilion’s connection to the Ling Clan's destruction of the Bai Clan.

Golden Leaf True Person Li Congyi bought the Golden Scale Tiger cub for one hundred thousand spirit stones and learned where its father was. After returning to Serpent Dragon Lake, Ling Pengyun gave his family the auction goods he had bought, only to learn that Yan Cang could not benefit from the Longevity Enhancing Spirit Apricots and had just five good years left.

• Li Congyi arrived at the White Cloud Auction, outbid any potential rivals with an offer of one hundred thousand spirit stones, and bought the Golden Scale Tiger cub from Ouyang Zhong.
• Ouyang Zhong told Li Congyi where the cub's father was, and Li Congyi paid for the cub before leaving as the auction ended.
• Ling Pengyun, Wu Hong, and Liu Luo stayed in White Cloud Market Town for about ten days, then returned safely to Serpent Dragon Lake.
• Ling Pengyun gave his parents, Yan Cang, and Yan Siyi the nine Longevity Enhancing Spirit Apricots and twenty bottles of Profound Yang Spirit Liquid he had bought at the auction.
• Yan Cang explained that he had already taken Longevity Enhancing Spirit Apricots and could not benefit from more, leaving the family to face the news that he had only five good years remaining.

Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi agreed to try for a child so Yan Cang could meet his great-grandchild. Back at Falling Dusk Mountain, Ling Pengyun successfully refined a medium-quality Second Rank Low Grade Refining Furnace, while lamenting that he lacked a method to cultivate his divine sense.

• Yan Cang urged Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi to have a child, and they agreed after Yan Siyi nodded.
• Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi spent half a month with their relatives before returning to Falling Dusk Mountain to tend the spirit plants and try to conceive.
• Ling Pengyun decided to refine a Second Rank Low Grade Refining Furnace after his First Rank High Grade furnace showed signs of cracking.
• Ling Pengyun used demon serpent bones, Blazing Fire Spirit Iron, and a demon serpent inner core to shape the furnace and inscribe four spirit patterns.
• Ling Pengyun completed a medium-quality Second Rank Low Grade Refining Furnace and reflected that the Ling Clan lacked a divine-sense cultivation method.

Ling Pengyun completed a new Flame Fire Refining Furnace, tempered his Lifebound Magic Item, and condensed his seventh strand of Yin Yang Primordial Qi, deciding to give it to Yang Siling to aid her Dao Path. He then returned to family life on Falling Dusk Mountain, where Ling Chengping broke through to the Qi Training Seventh Layer and was told to stabilize her cultivation.

• Ling Pengyun tested and named his new Flame Fire Refining Furnace, but his attempt to forge another furnace for Wen Nianling failed.
• Over the following half month, Ling Pengyun used his remaining water spirit iron to raise the weight of his Mystic Yuan Heavy Iron to sixty-five thousand jin.
• Two years later, Ling Pengyun condensed his seventh strand of Yin Yang Primordial Qi and decided to give it to Yang Siling, while reserving the ninth strand for Yan Siyi.
• Ling Pengyun prepared breakfast for Yan Siyi and Ling Chengping, and Ling Chengping entered seclusion after sensing she could break through to the Qi Training Seventh Layer.
• Ling Chengping emerged half a day later after breaking through, and Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi urged her to spend a year stabilizing her cultivation.