Chapter Summaries

Ling Pengyun unleashed the Ling Clan’s demon corpses against the Blood Fiend Sect, killing one Golden Core blood ghost before Bloodfiend True Person entered the False Nascent Soul Realm and turned the battlefield into a blood domain. As Bloodfiend True Person tore through the Ling Clan’s corpses, Ling Pengyun ordered five demon corpses to explode around him.

• Ling Pengyun ordered his eight Golden Core demon corpses to attack, and they helped his treasures overwhelm a Golden Core Initial Stage blood ghost.
• The blood ghost regenerated with the Blood Devouring Secret Technique, but Ling Pengyun’s demon corpses tore it apart, and he captured its soul with the Burning Yuan Lamp.
• Bloodfiend True Person raised his cultivation to the False Nascent Soul Realm and spread blood qi across the battlefield, weakening his opponents and empowering the Blood Fiend Sect cultivators.
• Bloodfiend True Person used his enhanced speed to destroy a Golden Core Third Layer Steel Crimson Gold Netherflame Corpse and then attacked a Golden Core Sixth Layer Steel Netherflame Corpse.
• Ling Pengyun ordered two Mystic Ice Giant Whale Demon Corpses, the Golden Core Sixth Layer Steel Netherflame Corpse, and two Golden Core Late Stage Mystic Ice Giant Whale Demon Corpses to explode around Bloodfiend True Person.

Ling Pengyun badly wounded Bloodfiend True Person after the five demon corpses exploded, but Bloodfiend True Person received support from other enemies. Ling Pengyun forced Hundred Spirits True Person to commit the Black Flame Fire Phoenix, shifting the fight against the Blood Fiend Sect demons as the battle continued.

• The five demon corpses exploded and severely injured Bloodfiend True Person, and Ling Pengyun transformed into a golden giant to attack him.
• Ling Pengyun knocked away Bloodfiend True Person’s bottle of blood and wounded him with his spear, but a Blood Fiend Sect demon cultivator and Profound Yang Old Daoist intervened.
• Ling Pengyun threatened to withdraw the Ling Clan unless Hundred Spirits True Person fought with full strength and summoned the Black Flame Fire Phoenix.
• Hundred Spirits True Person released the weakened Black Flame Fire Phoenix, which attacked Bloodfiend True Person with Black Flame True Fire.
• Hundred Spirits True Person trapped the Golden Core Late Stage demon cultivator and sent an artifact to stop Profound Yang Old Daoist from attacking Ling Pengyun.

Ling Pengyun and his allies defeated Bloodfiend True Person and Profound Yang Old Daoist, though Bloodfiend’s self-detonation badly injured the Black Flame Fire Phoenix Artifact Spirit and Ling Pengyun’s demon corpses. After the remaining demonic cultivators were killed, Ling Pengyun and Hundred Spirits True Person joined forces to raid the leaderless Blood Fiend Sect in the Eastern Demonic Domain.

• Ling Pengyun and the Black Flame Fire Phoenix Artifact Spirit overwhelmed Bloodfiend True Person, who detonated his Golden Core after realizing he could not escape.
• Ling Pengyun, Ling Yunhong, and Yan Siyi survived the blast, and Ling Pengyun killed an injured Golden Core Middle Stage demonic cultivator; the blast grievously wounded the Fire Phoenix and Ling Pengyun’s five demon corpses.
• Ling Pengyun, Ling Yunhong, Yan Siyi, and Hundred Spirits True Person besieged Profound Yang Old Daoist, and Ling Pengyun killed him, captured his soul in the Burning Yuan Lamp, and took his corpse.
• Ling Pengyun and his allies killed the remaining demonic cultivators, while Hundred Spirits True Person burned two corpses to prevent the Ling Clan from refining them into demon corpses.
• Ling Pengyun invited Hundred Spirits True Person to raid the Blood Fiend Sect, and the eight Golden Core cultivators of the Ling Clan and the Hundred Spirits Sect headed east together.

Blood Abyss Old Daoist used the Blood Fiend Sect’s disciples to empower its ancient Blood Ghost, but Ling Pengyun and seven other Golden Core cultivators defeated it. Ling Pengyun then fought Hundred Spirits True Person for the Blood Ghost’s remains and threatened him with a Quasi Fourth Rank talisman.

• Blood Abyss Old Daoist discovered that the Blood Fiend Sect’s five Golden Core cultivators had died and gathered the sect’s disciples to prepare for an attack.
• As eight righteous-path Golden Core cultivators approached, Blood Abyss Old Daoist summoned the sect’s Blood Ghost and had it slaughter the disciples to increase its power.
• Ling Pengyun and the other Golden Cores wore down the Blood Ghost, then severed its heads and hands and destroyed its blood core.
• Ling Pengyun tried to claim the Blood Ghost’s corpse, but Hundred Spirits True Person attacked him and the remains with Black Flame True Fire.
• Ling Pengyun took a Yi Wood Wound Transformation Pill, recovered from his weakened state, broke through the flames, and warned Hundred Spirits True Person that he would use a Quasi Fourth Rank talisman if he did not stop.

Ling Pengyun forced Hundred Spirits True Person to accept harsh terms in exchange for peace, then joined Ling Yunhong and Yan Siyi in destroying the Blood Fiend Sect and seizing its treasures. After they left with the valley’s surviving mortals, rival demonic sects arrived and fought over Bloodfiend Valley’s spirit vein.

• Hundred Spirits True Person feared Ling Pengyun’s Quasi Fourth Rank Spirit Talisman and agreed to give the Ling Clan the Blood Fiend Sect’s gains, a share of the Profound Yang Sect’s wealth, and help with its territory in exchange for a Soul Contract.
• Ling Pengyun and the others used Formation Breaking Talismans to weaken the Blood Fiend Sect’s Sect Protecting Array Formation, then broke through it and killed Blood Abyss Old Daoist.
• Ling Pengyun, Ling Yunhong, and Yan Siyi rescued several thousand imprisoned mortals and plundered the Blood Fiend Sect’s cultivation methods, spiritual objects, and corpse-refining materials.
• Ling Pengyun and the others departed Bloodfiend Valley aboard the Lingxiao Flying Boat, bringing the mortals with them.
• Flame Demon Old Daoist led two Golden Core cultivators toward Bloodfiend Valley to claim its spirit vein, but three Golden Core cultivators from the Mystic Nether Sect arrived and fought them for it.

Ling Pengyun secured the Cloud Stepping Ridge territory for the Ling Clan and agreed to help Wu Yan hunt a metal-attribute Golden Core Demon Beast for Wu Yan’s wife, Si Ling. He left Ling Wan Chuan and Ling Chengshi to establish and manage a branch in the region while he continued assigning clansmen to its other spirit veins.

• Wu Yan warned Ling Pengyun about the powerful Thunder Essence Great Peng in Cloud Stepping Forest and asked him not to kill it, then explained that he needed help finding a metal-attribute Golden Core Demon Beast for Si Ling’s breakthrough.
• Ling Pengyun agreed to help Wu Yan and said he would visit Wu Yan and Si Ling at Profound Spirit Mountain after settling the clan’s new territories.
• Ling Pengyun appointed Ling Wan Chuan to guard the region with a Golden Core Initial Stage demon corpse and tasked Ling Chengshi with establishing and managing the Cloud Stepping Ridge Branch.
• Ling Wan Chuan worried that the demon corpse might devour its master, and Ling Pengyun reassured him that he had placed restrictions on it.
• Ling Pengyun privately reminded Ling Chengshi that he was expected to return to Turtle Spirit Island and eventually manage the place his father had built, strengthening Ling Chengshi’s resolve to gain management experience.
• Ling Wan Chuan and Ling Chengshi descended from the flying boat, and Ling Pengyun flew off to assign clansmen to the remaining spirit veins.

Ling Pengyun killed a Golden Core Fifth Layer Thunder Essence Great Peng in Cloud Stepping Forest and prepared to use its remains for blood-corpse refinement. After securing the area, he waited outside the forest for the Thunder Essence Great Peng Clan’s reinforcements.

• Ling Pengyun drew the Thunder Essence Great Peng out of its valley and defeated it with his dharma treasures and physical strength.
• When the peng threatened revenge from its clan, Ling Pengyun decided there was no room for negotiation and pierced its head with his spear.
• Ling Pengyun stopped the peng’s Golden Core from escaping and used the Burning Yuan Lamp to collect part of its divine soul.
• Ling Pengyun considered refining the peng’s corpse into a blood corpse and planned to acquire materials and improve the refining method.
• Ling Pengyun stored the corpse and Golden Core, planted array flags throughout Cloud Stepping Forest, and waited for reinforcements from the Thunder Essence Great Peng Clan.

Ling Pengyun divided the Profound Yang Sect’s spoils, gaining powerful treasures, inheritances, and the Profound Yang Heaven Burning Grand Array. He used the array to kill one Thunder Essence Great Peng and drive off another, then prepared to contact Ling Yunhong and Yan Siyi as he awaited the Peng King’s retaliation.

• Ling Pengyun claimed half of the Profound Yang Sect’s wealth and exchanged his share for its protecting array, other treasures, and the Autumn Water Mysterious Rain Talisman Array.
• Ling Pengyun learned that the Profound Yang Sect’s Profound Yang Treasure Canon traced back to the Pure Yang Sect and gained access to the sect’s cultivation and craft inheritances.
• Ling Pengyun and his allies slaughtered the trapped Profound Yang Sect disciples, and he began erasing the Profound Yang Treasure Lamp’s old imprint.
• Two Thunder Essence Great Pengs attacked Ling Pengyun, who trapped them in the Profound Yang Heaven Burning Grand Array and killed the Golden Core Middle Stage peng.
• The Golden Core Seventh Layer peng raised its cultivation to the Eighth Layer, broke out with its Tribulation Crossing Divine Lightning, and escaped; Ling Pengyun let it go, expecting the Peng King to come next.
• Ling Pengyun noted that the battle had consumed nearly half the array’s accumulated power and contacted Ling Yunhong and Yan Siyi through a Communication Treasure Mirror.

A storyteller and a middle-aged cultivator showed teahouse guests a recording of the battle that destroyed Profound Yang Sect, revealing the Ling Clan’s formidable strength. After viewing it, Medicine King Zhenren resolved to befriend the Ling Clan, fearing its eventual rise could threaten Medicine King Valley.

• Old Li Head persuaded teahouse guests to buy Red Leaf Spirit Tea in exchange for hearing about a Golden Core battle and seeing its recording.
• The middle-aged cultivator showed footage of the battle, including Golden Core demonic cultivators and the three-headed blood ghost self-destructing as Ling Pengyun and his allies fought.
• A cultivation-family cultivator paid a hundred spirit stones for a copy of the recording and hurried away with it.
• The recording passed through several hands and reached Medicine King Zhenren, who concluded that the Ling Clan had possessed ten Golden Core demonic beasts at its peak.
• Medicine King Zhenren estimated that the Ling Clan still had eight Golden Core combatants and resolved to seek its friendship before it grew powerful enough to threaten Medicine King Valley.

Ling Yunhong persuaded Medicine King Zhenren to train Ling Clan alchemy seedlings and build closer ties, then revealed a way to obtain Core Formation Fluid. Ling Pengyun gathered Yan Kingdom’s Golden Core cultivators and asked them to join him in hunting a Golden Core Completion Peng King.

• Medicine King Zhenren rewarded the cultivators who delivered the recording stone, then set out to visit the Ling Clan and met Ling Yunhong on the way.
• Ling Yunhong asked Medicine King Zhenren to have Medicine King Valley alchemists train the Ling Clan’s alchemy seedlings, and Medicine King Zhenren agreed to provide one-on-one instruction.
• Ling Yunhong offered future military aid and closer relations, including possible marriages between the two forces, and then told Medicine King Zhenren about a way to obtain Golden Core Spiritual Objects.
• Yan Siyi approached Hundred Spirits True Person beneath Profound Yang Mountain and asked whether he wanted Golden Core Spiritual Objects.
• Ling Pengyun met with eight Golden Core cultivators, including leaders from Hundred Spirits Sect and Medicine King Valley, and confirmed that an alchemist could refine Core Formation Fluid from a Golden Core Completion demon beast’s core.
• Ling Pengyun explained the alchemist’s commission and asked the gathered cultivators to join him in killing a Golden Core Completion Peng King of the Thunder Essence Great Peng Clan.

Ling Pengyun negotiated with the Hundred Spirits Sect and Medicine King Valley to join his hunt for Golden Core Completion demon beasts, offering them a share of the Core Formation Fluid his friend might refine. The forces agreed to his terms and dispersed, ready to support him if the Thunder Essence Great Peng King came seeking revenge.

• Hundred Spirits True Person and Medicine King Zhenren pressed Ling Pengyun for a share of the Core Formation Fluid in exchange for helping kill the Thunder Essence Great Peng King.
• Ling Pengyun proposed hunting additional Golden Core Completion demon beasts to provide more Golden Cores for refining the fluid, and threatened to invite other forces if the Hundred Spirits Sect refused.
• Hundred Spirits True Person, Medicine King Zhenren, and Mist Water True Person agreed to participate after Ling Pengyun set conditions for battle, desertion, and dividing the spoils.
• Ling Pengyun told the Golden Core cultivators to disperse and support him if the Thunder Essence Great Peng King arrived to avenge the two peng demons he had killed.

Yan Siyi worried that she was too weak to help Ling Pengyun, while he stayed at Cloud Stepping Forest to refine the Profound Yang Treasure Lamp and prepare for battle. The Thunder Essence Peng King arrived with its injured Third Brother, attacked Ling Pengyun, and found itself besieged by other Golden Core cultivators.

• Yan Siyi gave Ling Pengyun five Third Rank Defensive Spirit Talismans, but he and Ling Yunhong persuaded her to keep them and leave the forest border; she vowed to improve her cultivation and strength.
• Ling Pengyun remained at Cloud Stepping Forest, refining the Profound Yang Treasure Lamp over the following days.
• The Golden Core Completion Peng King arrived with its weakened Third Brother, identified Ling Pengyun as its target, and threatened to exterminate the Ling Clan.
• The Peng King used its Lightning Transformation Mirror to summon Tribulation Crossing Divine Lightning at Ling Pengyun, who activated the Profound Yang Heaven Burning Grand Array and sent its Profound Yang Treasure Dragon to meet the strike.
• The dragon trapped the Peng King briefly with Profound Yang Treasure Fire, but the Peng King broke free with another lightning strike and mocked the array.
• Several Golden Core cultivators arrived and attacked the Peng King with a barrage of magic treasures, forcing it to defend itself with its Thunder Essence Treasure Armor.

Ling Pengyun and the allied Golden Core cultivators fought the Peng King, whose lightning nearly killed Yan Siyi before Medicine King Zhenren intervened with the Medicine King Furnace. They killed both Peng demons and began dividing spoils worth over six million spirit stones, while Ling Pengyun remained wary of the other cultivators.

• Ling Pengyun and the other Golden Core cultivators used their secret arts and treasures to counter the Peng King’s Pseudo Nascent Soul strength and storm of lightning.
• The Peng King targeted Yan Siyi with Tribulation Crossing Divine Lightning, but Yan Siyi’s Fire Wolf Moon Devouring Art and Ling Pengyun’s attacks delayed the bolts until Medicine King Zhenren blocked the last one with the Medicine King Furnace.
• The Peng King’s strength-enhancing technique expired, and Ling Pengyun, Hundred Spirits True Person, and the others overwhelmed and killed it and the Golden Core Seventh Layer Peng bird.
• Ling Pengyun absorbed the Peng King’s remaining soul with the Burning Yuan Lamp and assessed the two demons’ spoils at more than six million spirit stones, excluding the Peng King’s Golden Core.
• Ling Pengyun recalled his damaged treasures, warned Ling Yunhong and Yan Siyi to be wary of the other cultivators, and displayed his treasures around himself to deter them.

Ling Pengyun divided the defeated Peng King's spoils, secured Cloud Stepping Ridge against demon beast invasion, and left its protection to Ling Wanchuan. At Pure Heart Daoist Temple, Pure Heart True Person returned with four Golden Core Spirit Objects for Bai Qianshi, who vowed to seize the chance to advance.

• Ling Pengyun claimed his clan's agreed share of the Peng King's spoils, while Medicine King Zhenren and Hundred Spirits True Person took the remaining magic treasures and agreed to compensate the Ling Clan.
• Ling Pengyun, Ling Yunhong, and Yan Siyi confronted a Lightning Rat sent to Cloud Stepping Forest and allowed it to stay after it promised not to invade Cloud Stepping Ridge.
• Ling Pengyun and his companions waited a month to confirm the demon race would not invade, then entrusted Cloud Stepping Ridge to Ling Wanchuan and departed.
• Pure Heart True Person returned to Pure Heart Daoist Temple after five years, having survived dangers in the Central Province and advanced to the peak of Golden Core Fourth Layer.
• Pure Heart True Person gave Bai Qianshi four Golden Core Spirit Objects and explained that, with his preparations, Bai Qianshi had a fifty-five percent chance of forming a Golden Core.
• Bai Qianshi promised Pure Heart True Person that he would enter the Golden Core Realm and shoulder the future of Pure Heart Daoist Temple.

Bai Qianshi broke through to the Golden Core Realm, giving the threatened Pure Heart Daoist Temple a second Golden Core cultivator. Pure Heart Old Daoist then sought the Ling Clan’s protection by offering talisman-crafting instruction and, at Ling Pengyun’s request, agreed to share the Pure Heart Spirit Talisman refining method.

• Profound Jade Old Daoist told Pure Heart Old Daoist that the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect and Profound Yang Sect had fallen, leaving the Pure Heart Daoist Temple vulnerable amid the Ling Clan’s growing power.
• Bai Qianshi underwent the Golden Core Tribulation, and Pure Heart Daoist Temple’s protective formation blocked all nine bolts of lightning as he successfully entered the Golden Core Realm.
• Pure Heart Old Daoist left the newly strengthened Daoist Temple and visited Ling Pengyun at the Ling Clan’s headquarters, bringing Calm Heart Spirit Tea.
• Pure Heart Old Daoist offered to train the Ling Clan’s talisman-making disciples and proposed introductions between the two groups’ unmarried cultivators; Ling Pengyun accepted.
• Ling Pengyun asked for the Pure Heart Spirit Talisman refining method, and Pure Heart Old Daoist agreed to share it to secure ties with the Ling Clan.

At the Ling Clan’s first five-year meeting since defeating the Profound Yang Sect, Ling Pengyun announced generous spirit-fruit rewards as the clan prepared for the approaching Demon Beast Uprising. Grand Elder Ling Chengyuan reported the clan’s rapid growth and higher childbirth rewards, leaving its members celebrating and its itinerant cultivators regretting that they lacked Ling Clan bloodlines.

• Nearly a year after the clan’s victories, thousands of Ling Clan cultivators gathered for the five-year Clan Meeting, where Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi arrived before Clan Head Ling Yunhong.
• Ling Pengyun announced that every cultivator would receive ten spirit fruits of a tier matching their cultivation, doubling the meeting’s benefits.
• Ling Chengyuan reported that the clan ruled more than 9.3 million mortals and had 2,153 cultivators with Ling Clan blood, or 5,348 including those who married into the clan.
• Ling Chengyuan said that the clan and its recruited Outer Affairs Hall cultivators together had more than eight thousand low-level combatants, and urged clan members to have more children.
• Ling Chengyuan announced rewards of one thousand spirit stones for each child with Three Spirit Roots and three thousand for each child with Dual Spirit Roots, prompting excitement among Ling Clan members and regret among itinerant cultivators.

Ling Pengyun and the Ling Clan announced generous rewards for cultivators who reached Foundation Establishment, then reviewed the clan’s expanding territories and resources. After warning that a Beast Tide was approaching, Ling Pengyun agreed to meet the heads of six allied families who had come seeking an audience.

• Ling Chengyuan announced escalating clan rewards for Foundation Establishment breakthroughs, and Ling Pengyun warned the cultivators to prepare for the approaching Beast Tide.
• Ling Pengyun dismissed the ordinary clansmen, then met with the thirty-five Foundation Establishment Elders to hear Ling Chengyuan’s account of the clan’s territories, income, halls, and growing Hundred Arts workforce.
• Ling Chengyuan explained that practitioners from Medicine King Valley and Pure Heart Daoist Temple had joined the Ling Clan through marriage and were contributing their skills.
• Ling Chengyuan told Ling Pengyun, Yan Siyi, and Ling Yunhong that the heads of five affiliated families and the Peace Cloud Yang Clan were waiting outside the secret realm.
• Ling Pengyun agreed to receive the six family heads and ordered Ling Chengyuan to bring them to the pavilion.

Six subordinate clan heads visited the Ling Clan, where Ling Pengyun rewarded their service and warned them to prepare for the coming Demon Beast Uprising. Yang Mingtian then asked Ling Pengyun to help the Peace Cloud Yang Clan acquire Golden Core spirit objects for Yang Siqi, and Ling Pengyun agreed to visit the Yang Clan after the Ling Clan ceremony.

• Ling Chengyuan escorted six Foundation Establishment clan heads into the Ling Clan residence, where they saw the clan's greatly expanded ranks and met its three Golden Core Old Ancestors.
• Wen Niangang, Wang Tiansheng, and the other clan heads presented gifts, and Ling Pengyun rewarded their clans with access to Foundation Establishment spiritual objects while urging them to prepare for the Demon Beast Uprising.
• Yang Mingtian told Ling Pengyun that Yang Siqi had reached Foundation Establishment Completion and sought Golden Core spirit objects, but the Yang Clan lacked protection and faced suppression from the Hundred Spirits Sect.
• Yang Mingtian offered spirit stones and the Yang Clan's submission in exchange for Ling Pengyun's help purchasing one ordinary and one inferior Golden Core spirit object for Siqi.
• Ling Pengyun agreed to find the spirit objects within ten years and to visit the Yang Clan after the grand ceremony to collect payment; he invited Yang Mingtian to stay for the Lunar New Year.

On New Year’s Eve, Ling Yunhong told Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi he would travel to the Azure Sea Secret Realm to obtain the sect’s superior alchemy inheritance and advance his alchemy. Before leaving, he accepted the family’s materials and instructions for his journey, while Ling Pengyun planned to handle the Yang Clan’s request himself later.

• Ling Yunhong announced that he would travel to the Azure Sea Secret Realm to acquire the Azure Sea Azure Sky Sect’s deeper alchemy inheritance and become a Third Rank Middle Grade alchemist.
• Ling Pengyun urged Ling Yunhong to prioritize cultivation before the Demon Beast Uprising, but Ling Yunhong explained that the Clear Marrow Pill could improve cultivation aptitude, divine sense, and bodily aptitude.
• Ling Yunhong described how the Clear Marrow Pill might help him master the Profound Yang Spirit Refining Art and strengthen his divine sense before the coming war.
• Ling Pengyun gave Ling Yunhong the materials for Core Formation Fluid and a message talisman, asking him to deliver them to Senior Fire Yang at Wrathful Whale Marketplace.
• Ling Pengyun asked Ling Yunhong to check on the Turtle Spirit Island Branch and Peng Qiu, and said he would personally pursue the Yang Clan’s request to purchase Golden Core Spirit Objects in a few years.

Ling Pengyun arranged the Ling Clan’s preparations for the coming Demon Beast Uprising and sent Ling Yunhong to have Fire Yang refine Core Formation Fluid. After assessing the clan’s chances of survival and rewarding Ling Chengyuan, Ling Pengyun joined his family to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

• Ling Pengyun reassured Ling Yunhong that Fire Yang was trustworthy and gave him a Quasi Fourth Rank Spirit Talisman before Ling Yunhong departed to deliver the materials for refinement.
• Ling Chengyuan brought Ling Pengyun information about the Peace Cloud Yang Clan and Yang Siqi, whose alchemy talent Ling Pengyun considered highly valuable.
• Ling Pengyun increased the Shadow Hall’s funding, ordered it to monitor the Heavenly Star Sect and recruit capable independent cultivators, and set stricter expectations for clan members’ cultivation.
• Ling Pengyun told Ling Chengyuan that the clan had a thirty percent chance of surviving the Demon Beast Uprising, then doubled Chengyuan’s and his parents’ resources and promised him a future opportunity if he reached Foundation Establishment Completion.
• Ling Pengyun and Yan Siyi joined Ling Pengyun’s parents, son, siblings, and other relatives for New Year’s Eve at Ling Clan Square.