Chapter Summaries

Ling Pengyun tested the Lingxiao Flying Boat, recruited nearly two thousand rogue cultivators with promises of spirit-vein access, and delayed the campaign against the Swamp Giant Crocodile Clan so the Ling Clan could acquire more boats. He then began salvaging materials from flying demonic beasts to help secure the additional flying boats.

• Ling Penglin told Ling Pengyun she had mastered a method of arranging formations according to Earth Vein momentum, and he asked whether she had found a successor.
• Ling Penglin reported that more than eighteen hundred Qi Refinement cultivators and twenty-five Foundation Establishment cultivators had gathered to fight for the Ling Clan in exchange for renting spirit veins.
• Ling Pengyun tested the Lingxiao Flying Boat and found it could carry four hundred people, fly 120,000 li per day normally, and reach 240,000 li per day with the Black Wind Escape Technique.
• Ling Pengyun promised the rogue cultivators up to two hundred years of rent-free spirit-vein access if they helped the Ling Clan seize the Muddy Swamp Territory.
• Ling Pengyun postponed the campaign for three months because the Ling Clan lacked enough flying boats to transport everyone safely.
• Ling Pengyun returned to Cloud Peak Mountain and began harvesting materials from nearly a hundred flying demonic beast corpses.

Ling Pengyun forged Cloud Peak Flying Boats and Ghost Control Long Banners to prepare the Ling Clan for the coming war. After distributing the banners and warning the clansmen to keep their method secret, he took Ling Chengxia to Spirit Beast Mountain to inspect the unusually fast-growing Little Golden Armor Python.

• Ling Pengyun refined forty Cloud Peak Flying Boats from demonic beast materials and spiritual logs.
• Ling Pengyun raised the Mountain Moving Evil Ghosts in a magic-treasure banner and several newly forged banners, then distributed Ghost Control Long Banners to the clan’s cultivators.
• Ling Pengyun explained that the banners were a Ling Clan secret, warned the recipients not to reveal them, and sent them away after adding concealed self-destruction restrictions to the artifacts.
• Ling Pengyun asked Ling Chengxia about the Little Golden Armor Python’s rapid growth and learned that it was cultivating with its three brothers on Spirit Beast Mountain.
• Ling Pengyun took Ling Chengxia to Spirit Beast Mountain to see the Little Golden Armor Python.

Ling Pengyun discovered that Ling Chengxia’s Little Golden Armor Python and its three siblings likely possessed the rare Twin Spirit Body, which explained their extraordinary cultivation speed. He asked Ling Pengqiu to give the three untamed pythons to Cheng Xia and offered him a great fortune in return.

• Ling Pengqiu told Ling Pengyun that four related Little Golden Armor Pythons had advanced unusually quickly despite their modest bloodlines and innate cultivation.
• Ling Pengyun examined the pythons and noticed that their breathing gathered and refined nearby Gold Spiritual Energy.
• Ling Pengyun identified their likely Twin Spirit Body, which accelerated the siblings’ cultivation when they were together and could eventually grant them powerful combined abilities.
• Ling Chengxia realized the spirit body explained why his tamed python had refused to leave its siblings for a more spiritually rich mountain.
• Ling Pengyun estimated the pythons’ future potential and asked Ling Pengqiu to give Cheng Xia the remaining three, offering him a great fortune in exchange.

Ling Pengyun gave Ling Pengqiu a mysterious boost that improved his cultivation aptitude and chances of reaching the Golden Core Realm. Ling Pengqiu vowed to repay him, and Ling Pengyun prepared to seal the secret of his ability.

• Ling Pengqiu yielded the three remaining untamed Little Golden Armor Pythons to Ling Chengxia, who tamed them with Recognition of Ownership Seals and took all four back to Cloud Peak.
• Ling Pengyun concealed himself and Ling Pengqiu behind a curtain of clouds and mist, then sent Yin Yang Primordial Qi through Ling Pengqiu’s body to strengthen his meridians, foundation, comprehension, and aptitude.
• Ling Pengqiu realized the changes could greatly improve his chances of reaching Golden Core Realm and suspected they explained Ling Pengyun’s unusually early breakthrough.
• Ling Pengyun promised to derive a secret art to preserve Ling Pengqiu’s chance to break through and said he would seek a Golden Core Spirit Object for him if he reached Foundation Establishment Completion.
• Ling Pengqiu promised to help Ling Pengyun in return, and Ling Pengyun said he would place a restriction in Ling Pengqiu’s Sea of Consciousness to keep his aptitude-improving ability secret.

Ling Pengyun secured Ling Pengqiu’s silence, inspected Spirit Beast Mountain’s demon beast cubs, and prepared for the clan’s coming war with the Swamp Giant Crocodile Clan. He strengthened his arsenal and developed a plan to cultivate his spirit plants and beasts, leaving the Thorn Vine newly advanced to the Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer.

• Ling Pengyun placed a restriction on Ling Pengqiu, then sent him back to cultivate before the clan’s dangerous war against the Swamp Giant Crocodile Clan.
• Ling Pengyun inspected more than three hundred demon beast cubs on Spirit Beast Mountain but found none with unusual traits.
• Ling Pengyun refined the Cloud Thunder Shuttle, a mid-grade Lifebound Magic Treasure, and was pleased that its power would improve his chances against the Swamp Crocodile King.
• Ling Pengyun fed the Thorn Vine eight doses of century-old Wood Origin Spirit Water, helping it break through to the Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer.
• Ling Pengyun gave the two remaining bottles of Wood Origin Spirit Water to the Ren Water Blue Cloud Grass and decided to prioritize it and the Thorn Vine, followed by the Black Water Turtle and Wind Shadow Peng, with the Fruit Flower Bee King last.

Ling Yunhong successfully condensed a Middle Grade Golden Core with help from the Thunder Spirit Tree and its formation. Afterward, he saw that the Saint Demon Sect’s attacks were damaging the Azure Sea Secret Realm, leaving the sect struggling to hold it together.

• Ling Yunhong used the Kui Water True Evil and his enhanced divine sense to condense a Golden Core beneath the Fourth Rank Thunder Spirit Tree.
• The Thunder Spirit Tree and its formation intercepted eight bolts of tribulation lightning and guided the ninth into Ling Yunhong, helping him complete his breakthrough.
• Ling Yunhong learned that the Saint Demon Sect had attacked the secret realm’s entrance for half a year, causing spatial ripples and a crack that the sect’s cultivators were containing with the Restoration Treasure Mirror.
• Ling Yunhong worried that continued attacks would weaken the secret realm and eventually allow the Saint Demon Sect to breach it.
• Wang Ying congratulated Ling Yunhong on entering the Golden Core Realm, and he encouraged her to try again after recovering from her injuries.

Ling Yunhong joined Wang Ying in helping the Azure Sea Sect strengthen its Restoration Treasure Mirror, while the Ling Clan gained a promising new Beast Tamer when Lin Yuan accepted an offer to become its Guest Elder. Lin Yuan had just reached Foundation Establishment and agreed to manage the clan’s growing collection of spirit beasts.

• Ling Yunhong agreed to help Wang Ying’s sect through its crisis and added his spiritual power to the Restoration Treasure Mirror at the mountain gate.
• Lin Yuan emerged from the Rock Scale Snake Den after using the Ling Clan’s Foundation Establishment Pill and spirit vein to break through.
• Ling Chengxin recalled Lin Yuan’s Beast Taming Inheritance, his rapid progress, and the Ling Clan’s urgent need for Beast Tamers.
• Ling Chengxin offered Lin Yuan a Guest Elder position managing spirit beasts, with five Second Rank Low Grade Spirit Gathering Pills as annual pay.
• Lin Yuan accepted the Ling Clan’s offer.

Ling Chengxin recruited Lin Yuan to support the Ling Clan’s campaign in the White Cloud Mountain Range, and Lin Yuan agreed in hopes of earning advancement. The chapter then shifted to Falling Dusk Mountain, where Ling Chengyuan accepted a share of Spirit Mulberries from Ling Chengping after she explained the clan’s harvest arrangement.

• Ling Chengxin invited Lin Yuan to join the Ling Clan’s attack on the Swamp Giant Crocodile Clan and promised that military merit could help Lin Yuan reach Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment.
• Lin Yuan agreed to travel with Ling Chengxin to the White Cloud Mountain Range, and Ling Chengxin took him away by flying boat.
• Ling Pengliang watched them depart and regretted that his duties at the Rock Scale Snake Den prevented him from joining the campaign.
• At Falling Dusk Mountain, Ling Chengyuan harvested Spirit Mulberries with Ling Chengping, who offered him more than a thousand as his share.
• Ling Chengping explained that Falling Dusk Mountain was entitled to thirty percent of the Spirit Mulberries and Fruit Flower Honey, and Ling Chengyuan accepted the mulberries.

Ling Pengshan tested eleven children born among the Ling Clan’s mortals and discovered that Ling Chuan had a promising Wood-Water Dual Spirit Root. He renamed the boy Ling Wanchuan and placed him on the path of cultivation, where Wanchuan hoped to extend his parents’ lives.

• Ling Pengshan brought eleven children with spirit roots into the ancestral shrine to test their aptitude.
• Ling Chuan’s test revealed an eight-inch Wood spirit root and a six-inch Water spirit root, making him a Wood-Water Dual Spirit Root cultivator.
• Ling Pengshan named the boy Ling Wanchuan, explained his aptitude, and urged him to cultivate diligently.
• Wanchuan resolved to cultivate so he and his parents could live longer, especially because his mother’s illness had greatly shortened her lifespan.
• Ling Pengshan finished testing the eleven children and settled them on Lingxiao Mountain.

Ling Pengshan brought eleven newly identified Ling Clan cultivators to school, where Liu Mengting began teaching them board games. Meanwhile, the Sword God revealed himself as Ling Pengxing and helped Bai Xuanhe seize the Hundred Spirits Imperial Palace, then considered how its emperor’s aura might inspire his Sword Dao.

• Ling Pengshan introduced eleven children with Spirit Roots to Liu Mengting and invited her to play a board game after her lesson.
• Liu Mengting accepted the children into her class and began teaching them board games.
• Ling Pengxing led the assault on the Hundred Spirits Imperial Palace by cutting its gates open with his sword intent.
• Bai Xuanhe’s soldiers overwhelmed the imperial guards, captured Bai Yanzhong and his officials, and carried out Bai Xuanhe’s orders to kill them.
• Ling Pengxing saw emperor’s aura flow from Bai Yanzhong to Bai Xuanhe and considered adapting the world’s power to strengthen his sword intent.

Ling Pengxing developed the First Sun sword move by drawing on sunlight, while Ling Pengyun gathered the Ling Clan and nearly two thousand independent cultivators to begin their campaign against the Swamp Giant Crocodile Clan. The fleet set out east toward the Muddy Swamp Territory, leaving Ling Penglin behind to guard the clan’s strongholds.

• Ling Pengxing used First Sun Power to strengthen his Sword Intent, condensed First Sun Sword Qi, and named his new sword move First Sun.
• Ling Pengxing considered borrowing the power of the blazing sun and other forces to create more Sword Dao secret techniques.
• Ling Pengyun assembled the Ling Clan members at Lingxiao Ridge and asked Ling Penglin to stay behind and guard its five spirit-vein locations.
• Ling Pengyun led the clan to the valley, where nearly two thousand independent cultivators boarded forty Cloud Peak Flying Boats and received control tokens with hidden restrictions.
• Ling Pengyun led the fleet east toward the Muddy Swamp Territory, with the independent cultivators operating the boats behind his Lingxiao Flying Boat.

Ling Pengyun led the Ling Clan fleet through the Muddy Swamp Territory to relieve Pure Heart Daoist Temple at Yan Sun Mountain, where a vast demon beast horde threatened to break the mountain’s defenses. The Ling Clan arrived and opened a gap in the encircling horde, giving the besieged cultivators hope.

• Ling Pengyun formed a defensive array around the fleet and directed it north to support Pure Heart Daoist Temple.
• The fleet crossed the Muddy Swamp Territory and reached Yan Sun Mountain, which more than two hundred thousand demon beasts were attacking.
• Ling Pengyun realized Pure Heart Daoist was likely too badly injured to fight the Swamp Crocodile King, and he ordered the Ling Clan fleet to prepare for battle.
• Ling Pengyun launched the Azure Sea Heavy Yuan Treasure Pearl into the horde, killing more than ten thousand demon beasts and tearing open a gap.
• The cultivators defending Yan Sun Mountain spotted the arriving fleet and rejoiced.

Ling Pengyun led the Ling Clan’s reinforcements to Yan Sun Mountain, where Pure Heart Old Daoist was holding back the Swamp Crocodile King. Pure Heart Old Daoist agreed to leave the mountain as a Ling Clan base after helping stabilize the defense, while the demon beast horde still besieged the mountain.

• Pure Heart Old Daoist urged Yan Sun Mountain’s cultivators to attack the demon beast horde and used the Pure Heart Whisk to kill many beasts.
• The Swamp Crocodile King emerged from the swamp, assessed the Ling Clan’s approaching fleet, and charged Yan Sun Mountain’s defensive array.
• Pure Heart Old Daoist bound the Swamp Crocodile King with the Pure Heart Whisk, but the crocodile’s Mystic Scale Armor and brute strength weakened the restraints.
• Ling Pengyun led the Ling Clan’s flying boats through the array’s opening and landed at Yan Sun Mountain, where the cultivators joined the battle.
• Ling Pengyun asked Pure Heart Old Daoist about his plans, and the Daoist offered to lend the mountain to the Ling Clan before returning to the Autumn Sun Swallow Territory’s heartland.

Ling Pengyun helped Pure Heart Old Daoist repel the Swamp Crocodile King and its demon beast horde from Yan Sun Mountain. Pure Heart Daoist Temple departed afterward, leaving Ling Pengyun and the Ling Clan in control of the mountain and gathering the battle’s spoils.

• Ling Pengyun attacked the bound Swamp Crocodile King with his Azure Sea Heavy Yuan Treasure Pearl, Mountain Moving Evil Ghost, and water wyrm, but Pure Heart Old Daoist withdrew his white whiskers to block the beast’s Golden Core.
• The Swamp Crocodile King retreated into the Black Mud swamp, and its two-hundred-thousand-strong demon beast horde withdrew from Yan Sun Mountain.
• Pure Heart Old Daoist announced that Pure Heart Daoist Temple would take thirty percent of the demon beast corpses before leading his disciples and allied cultivators away on the Pure Heart Flying Boat.
• Two thousand independent cultivators stayed at Yan Sun Mountain to serve the Ling Clan, while Ling Chengxia and other young Ling clansmen gained confidence and recognition through their contributions in battle.
• The Ling Clan collected several thousand demon beast corpses from the independent cultivators remaining on the mountain.

Ling Pengyun defended Yan Sun Mountain against the Swamp Crocodile King and its enormous demon beast horde, using the mountain’s formation and magic treasures to hold them back. After the Crocodile King enhanced its strength and turned the fight against Ling Pengyun’s forces, Ling Pengyun unleashed the upgraded Burning Yuan Lamp, which knocked the Crocodile King onto its back.

• The Swamp Crocodile King led more than 250,000 demon beasts toward Yan Sun Mountain after Pure Heart Old Daoist left with several thousand cultivators.
• Ling Pengyun activated the Third Rank Five Elements Return Origin Grand Array and prepared the more than four thousand cultivators on the mountain for battle.
• Ling Pengyun sent the Azure Sea Heavy Yuan Treasure Pearl and the Mountain Moving Evil Ghost against the Swamp Crocodile King, while the ghost fought the crocodile and its nearby demon beasts.
• Ling Pengyun used the Five Elements Return Origin Flying Sword to kill more than 20,000 Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment demon beasts.
• The Swamp Crocodile King used the Black Spirit Boiling Art, increased its size and strength, knocked away the pearl, and bound the Mountain Moving Evil Ghost with its tail.
• Ling Pengyun brought out the Third Rank Low Grade Burning Yuan Lamp, whose flame demon wolf struck the Swamp Crocodile King and knocked it onto its back.

Ling Pengyun unleashed his full strength to kill the Swamp Crocodile King and capture its soul with the Burning Yuan Lamp. He collected the valuable remains and damaged array rope, though the crocodile’s burned flesh was lost and the lamp would soon enter slumber.

• Ling Pengyun used the Flame Demon Wolf, his treasures, and the Five Elements Return Origin Rope to pin down the Swamp Crocodile King and burn its exposed body.
• The Swamp Crocodile King spent its Golden Core’s power to break free, but Ling Pengyun and his Azure Sea phantoms battered its defensive shield until the Azure Sea Sky Sword Art shattered it.
• Ling Pengyun used the Azure Sea Heavy Yuan Treasure Pearl’s gravity to pin the Swamp Crocodile King’s Golden Core, leaving the beast vulnerable to the combined attacks.
• The Flame Demon Wolf’s Burning Yuan True Fire and the Cloud Thunder Shuttle’s armor-piercing strikes burned the Swamp Crocodile King to death.
• Ling Pengyun sent the Burning Yuan Lamp to absorb the crocodile’s complete soul, and the lamp told him it would soon enter slumber.
• Ling Pengyun retrieved the damaged Five Elements Return Origin Long Rope and assessed the crocodile’s remains, regretting that its flesh had burned away.

Ling Pengyun led the Ling Clan and independent cultivators in wiping out most of the demon beasts in the Muddy Swamp Territory, securing a vast haul of corpses and the territory itself. He sent letters arranging the clan’s settlement there, then flew into the territory to search for spiritual items while Ling Pengqiu faced the waiting cultivators on Yan Sun Mountain.

• Ling Pengyun stored the Swamp Crocodile King’s corpse, pursued the fleeing demon beasts with a flying boat fleet, and prevented the main horde from returning to the Muddy Swamp Territory.
• Ling Pengyun ordered the independent cultivators to hand over thirty percent of their kills, and the Ling Clan collected more than two hundred and eleven thousand demon beast corpses in total.
• Ling Pengqiu reported that the clan’s harvest could yield at least four million spirit stones if its materials were refined and sold, but Ling Pengyun realized the clan lacked the practitioners and time to process them quickly.
• Ling Pengyun asked Ling Pengqiu to find independent cultivators skilled in the hundred arts, gave him letters for Hundred Spirits Sect and the clan, and left to search the Muddy Swamp Territory for spiritual items.
• Ling Pengqiu went to the independent cultivators gathered on Yan Sun Mountain, where they demanded to know when they could exchange battle merits for the right to rent spirit veins.

Ling Pengqiu organized leases for the Lingxiao Ridge spirit veins, recruited thirteen itinerant Hundred Arts practitioners for possible service to the Ling Clan, and then prepared to use a captured Demon Serpent soul to advance his Lifebound Magic Item. He left the Crimson Sun Raging Flames Fan poised to transform, though its earth-attributed soul would not be suitable for tempering it into a magic treasure.

• Ling Pengqiu assigned the five hundred and five First Rank and twenty Second Rank Lingxiao Ridge spirit veins to groups of itinerant cultivators for two hundred years and kept them on Yan Sun Mountain to prevent them from plundering the Muddy Swamp Territory.
• Ling Pengqiu invited Hundred Arts practitioners to join the Ling Clan as Guest Elders, and thirteen itinerant cultivators came forward to demonstrate their skills.
• Ling Pengqiu learned that the thirteen practitioners included seven Spirit Plant Farmers, three Talisman Crafters, an alchemist, a formation practitioner, and an artifact refiner, and that other cultivators knew them as hardworking but not especially reputable.
• Ling Pengqiu delayed deciding whether to accept the thirteen practitioners as Guest Elders while he checked their reputations among the gathered itinerant cultivators.
• Ling Pengqiu took out a Soul Gathering Bottle containing a Half-Jiao Demon Serpent’s soul and planned to use it to transform his Crimson Sun Raging Flames Fan, while noting that he would later need a fire-attributed jiao-serpent soul to temper it into a magic treasure.

Ling Pengqiu strengthened his Crimson Sun Raging Flames Magic Fan with a jiao serpent soul, while Ling Pengyun explored Giant Crocodile Island and discovered valuable spirit plants and trees. Ling Pengyun left the island’s Third Rank Spirit Vein unoccupied in keeping with the human-Demon Race agreement, but found a Yellow Jade Spirit Tree and a high-grade Spirit Peach Tree in the crocodile king’s nest.

• Ling Pengqiu refined an earth-element jiao serpent soul into his magic fan, raising it to a top-tier mid-grade Lifebound Magic Item and testing its fire-dragon attack.
• Ling Pengqiu planned to settle the Ling Clan’s future development of the Muddy Swamp before entering secluded cultivation.
• Ling Pengyun reached Giant Crocodile Island and began collecting Spirit Shrubs suitable for cultivating materials for Wood Puppets.
• Swamp Crocodiles attacked Ling Pengyun, who killed them, searched the island, destroyed the surviving young crocodiles, collected their eggs, and transplanted the island’s spirit plants.
• Ling Pengyun entered the crocodile king’s nest and found a Yellow Jade Spirit Tree bearing eighteen immature fruits beside a high-grade Spirit Peach Tree bearing thirty-six peaches.

Ling Pengyun harvested spirit treasures across the Muddy Swamp Territory and planned how the Ling Clan would settle and develop it. After mapping the territory and choosing Lingyun Island as the clan’s temporary base, he headed for Yan Sun Mountain, intending to return later to transform the swamp.

• Ling Pengyun discovered that the Yellow Jade Spirit Tree and Spirit Peach Tree had been unnaturally nourished with demon beast blood, then transplanted them from Giant Crocodile Island for the Ling Clan.
• Ling Pengyun swept through the Muddy Swamp’s spirit veins, collecting spirit plants, demon beast cubs, and eggs while mapping the territory and counting its resources.
• Ling Pengyun set aside more than five hundred border spirit veins as a route for demon beasts to reach Giant Crocodile Island, creating a small Demon Beast Gathering Ground.
• Ling Pengyun chose the island at the core of the Muddy Swamp as the Ling Clan’s temporary territory and named it Lingyun Island.
• Ling Pengyun planned to clear the swamp’s black mud and turn the territory into a vast lake, then flew toward Yan Sun Mountain.