Chapter Summaries

Ling Pengyun led more than a thousand Ling Clan cultivators to attack the Poison Flame Gate’s stronghold at Poison Flame Peak as part of their alliance missions. The battle began with the Ling Clan surrounding the peak and battering its protective formation, leaving the defenders cut off and under pressure.

• Ling Pengyun gathered the Ling Clan cultivators, boarded the reforged Lingxiao Flying Boat with Ling Yunhong, and set out to complete alliance missions.
• Ling Pengyun delivered a refined Golden Core Eighth Layer Netherflame Corpse to Zhao Baigang, received a Golden Core Ninth Layer demonic cultivator corpse, and agreed to refine three more corpses for him.
• Ling Pengyun selected three missions at the Merit Hall in Demon-Slaying Marketplace and led his group toward the Poison Flame Gate’s stronghold at Poison Flame Peak.
• Ling Pengyun used the Azure Sea Aura Concealment Art to approach Poison Flame Peak, then deployed a communication-isolating formation that alerted the demonic cultivators.
• Ling Yunhong brought the Lingxiao Flying Boat and the Ling Clan cultivators into the fight, raising defensive and killing formations as they attacked Poison Flame Peak’s protective formation.
• The Poison Flame Gate’s demonic cultivators found that their message talisman and communication mirror could not reach anyone, while their formation shook under the Ling Clan’s assault.

Ling Pengyun and the Ling Clan fought to break Poison Flame Peak’s defenses, but an unexpectedly powerful formation artifact nearly destroyed the Lingxiao Flying Boat. The clan survived the demonic cultivators’ second devastating attack, though its defenses and cultivators were badly strained.

• Ling Pengyun discovered that Poison Flame Peak’s formation had a powerful Third Rank High Grade gourd artifact missing from the Alliance’s intelligence, and its demonic fire rapidly drained the Ling Clan’s formation operators.
• The Golden Core Middle Stage demonic cultivator unleashed a massive Poison Flame Fire Arrow that pierced Ling Pengyun’s Profound Yang Treasure Dragon before the Profound Yang Treasure Shield stopped it and shattered.
• The demonic cultivator fed three pieces of Demonic Flame Essence into the formation, restoring its power and enabling it to fire a second Poison Flame Fire Arrow.
• Ling Pengyun used the Fire Wolf Moon Devouring Art to weaken the second arrow, and Ling Yunhong’s Thunder Essence Treasure Armor further slowed it, but the arrow cracked the armor’s defensive screen.
• Ling Chengxia ordered the formation operators to use Meridian Protecting Pills, restorative pills, and the Spirit Burning Art, allowing the Gathering Star Astral Cloud Grand Array to withstand the arrow until it dissipated.
• Ling Pengyun praised the exhausted formation operators and ordered Ling Wanchuan to withdraw his offensive formation and help support the Gathering Star Astral Cloud Grand Array.

Ling Pengyun and the Ling Clan destroyed Poison Flame Peak, then exposed serious errors in the Merit Hall’s intelligence and received compensation. After exchanging battle merits for spirit objects, Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong encountered Liang Hanqian, who secretly resolved to target them more forcefully.

• Ling Wanchuan used the Gathering Star Astral Cloud Grand Array to trap Poison Flame Peak while Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong killed its two Golden Core Demon Cultivators and the Ling Clan slaughtered the remaining defenders.
• Ling Pengyun led the Ling Clan in looting Poison Flame Peak, then concealed their departure from the Hundred Demons Alliance Territory and returned to Autumn Yuan Mountain.
• Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong showed the Merit Hall evidence that its intelligence about two enemy strongholds was wrong, and the official compensated the Ling Clan with fifty thousand battle merits and promised future compensation for further errors.
• Li Congzhong angrily confronted Li Congli over the intelligence failures, and Li Congli suspected that their Eighteenth Brother had mishandled the intelligence work.
• Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong exchanged battle merits for spirit objects and met Liang Hanqian, who privately vowed to use stronger measures against them.

After the Ling Clan suffered devastating losses attacking the Sand Demon Sect due to false intelligence, Ling Pengyun detected an ambush while escorting his people home. Liang Hanqian and Qiu Yueyou revealed themselves as the attackers, and their assault left the damaged Ling Clan flying boat facing an even greater crisis.

• Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong led the Ling Clan in destroying the Sand Demon Sect stronghold, but the unexpected defenders and array artifact caused heavy casualties and badly damaged the Lingxiao Flying Boat.
• Ling Pengyun promised compensation to the fallen clansmen’s families, vowed to settle the score with the Li Clan over its inaccurate intelligence, and led the survivors toward the Orthodox Dao Alliance.
• Ling Pengyun sensed danger in the buffer zone, stopped the flying boat, raised a protective shield, and exposed two hidden cultivators with his Profound Yang Treasure Fire.
• The two attackers revealed Golden Core cultivation and launched treasure swords and zither-generated wind blades; Ling Pengyun recognized them as Liang Hanqian and Qiu Yueyou.
• Liang Hanqian summoned the Azure Scale Elephant, a Golden Core Fourth Layer spirit beast that Ling Yunhong had helped the Liang Family advance, and it attacked the flying boat with Water Arrows.

Liang Hanqian and Qiu Yueyou ambushed Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong, leaving the injured Ling Yunhong struggling to withstand Qiu Yueyou. Ling Wanliang rallied the Ling Clan cultivators to burn their blood and attack Qiu Yueyou with three formations, breaking through her protective array and injuring her.

• Liang Hanqian revealed his greed and attacked the Lingxiao Flying Boat alongside Qiu Yueyou and the Azure Scale Giant Elephant.
• Ling Pengyun used his magic treasures and three Mystic Ice Beast Puppets to hold off Liang Hanqian and the elephant while Ling Yunhong fought Qiu Yueyou despite his injuries.
• As Ling Yunhong weakened and the battle turned against him, Ling Wanliang urged the Ling Clan cultivators to use the Blood Burning Technique and aid their Old Ancestors.
• Ling Chengxia and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators formed three Third Rank Low Grade formations and directed their attacks at Qiu Yueyou.
• The formation attacks broke through Liang Hanqian's Golden Moon Breaching Array and destroyed Qiu Yueyou's defensive treasure, injuring her and damaging her defensive formation.

Ling Pengyun killed Qiu Yueyou after she offered to become his cauldron, then joined Ling Yunhong in fighting Liang Hanqian. Liang Hanqian activated his Golden Moon Breaking Array, but Ling Pengyun blocked its attack and seized its nine Golden Moon Needles before charging at him again.

• Ling Pengyun used the Spirit Burning Art and his immense strength to kill Qiu Yueyou, then crushed her fleeing Golden Core despite her pleas for mercy.
• Ling Pengyun called on Ling Yunhong to help kill Liang Hanqian, forcing Liang Hanqian onto the defensive.
• Liang Hanqian raised his cultivation with a Strength Enhancement Technique and fought Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong to a standstill.
• Liang Hanqian unleashed the Golden Moon Breaking Array’s nine Golden Moon Needles at Ling Pengyun.
• Ling Pengyun used the Azure Sea Sky Sword, the Fire Wolf Moon Devouring Art, and the Profound Yang Treasure Dragon to block the needles, then seized and sealed them before attacking Liang Hanqian again.

Ling Pengyun and Ling Yunhong defeated Liang Hanqian, though the Azure Scale Giant Elephant escaped, and the Ling Clan returned to Autumn Yuan Mountain. With Liu Haochan’s backing, Ling Pengyun confronted the Li Clan over the ambush and repeated mission-intelligence failures, leaving the Li Clan facing Heavenly Star Sect oversight of the Alliance Merit Hall’s intelligence division.

• Ling Pengyun delayed Liang Hanqian until Liang entered the weakened period, and Ling Yunhong beheaded him after Ling Pengyun used Beast Puppets to block his escape.
• Liang Hanqian detonated his Golden Core, allowing the Azure Scale Giant Elephant to flee with his dying request to protect the Liang Family’s descendants.
• Ling Pengyun and the others returned to Autumn Yuan Mountain, where Ling Yunhong entered seclusion to recover and Ling Pengyun reported the ambush to the Heavenly Star Sect.
• Liu Haochan accompanied Ling Pengyun to Maple Leaf Valley, where Li Congtong accepted responsibility for the Liang and Qiu families and allowed Ling Pengyun to take their wealth, apart from their spiritual veins.
• Ling Pengyun showed Li Congtong recordings proving repeated errors in the Merit Hall’s mission intelligence, and Li Congtong offered compensation and fifty thousand spirit stones.
• Liu Haochan demanded a role in reviewing the Alliance’s intelligence, warning that the Heavenly Star Sect would take control if the Li Clan again harmed its affiliated forces through mishandled intelligence.

Ling Pengyun secured compensation from the Li Clan, then joined Liu Haochan to kill the Liang Family's Azure Scale Giant Elephant and force the Liang Family to submit. He left with the Liang Family's treasures and clan-protection array, while its surviving members faced vassalage under the Ling Clan.

• Ling Pengyun rejected the Li Clan's initial compensation and demanded spirit stones and flying spirit beasts, which Li Congtong agreed to provide.
• Ling Pengyun gave Liu Haochan the fifty thousand spirit stones paid for the Li Clan's faulty intelligence, then asked him to help kill the Azure Scale Giant Elephant.
• Liu Haochan used the Heavenly Star Extinguishing Yuan Array to kill the returning elephant and handed its corpse to Ling Pengyun.
• Ling Pengyun showed the Liang Family proof of Liang Hanqian's failed ambush and threatened to destroy the clan unless its members submitted as Ling Clan vassals.
• The Liang Family's Grand Elder lowered the clan-protection array, and Ling Pengyun seized its formation equipment and plundered the clan's repositories and other holdings.

Ling Pengyun claimed the Liang Family’s inheritances and ordered Liang Mingtu to gather the family for relocation to Yan Kingdom, while weighing how to transport millions of mortals. The chapter left Ling Pengyun facing a logistical challenge ahead of the coming Demon Beast Uprising.

• Ling Pengyun examined the Liang Family’s divine sense method, Golden Core arts, and third-rank inheritances, and considered combining the Moon Essence Spirit Condensation Art with the Profound Yang Spirit Refining Art.
• Ling Pengyun planted a Blood Soul Seal in Liang Mingtu and ordered him to gather every Liang Family member within three months for relocation to Yan Kingdom.
• Ling Pengyun promised Liang Mingtu that the Ling Clan’s breakthrough-age secret art could raise the age limit by thirty percent, renewing the old Grand Elder’s hope of reaching the Pseudo-Core Realm.
• Ling Pengyun threatened to exterminate the Liang Family if any cultivator was missing, and Liang Mingtu agreed to gather them all.
• Liang Mingtu told Ling Pengyun that nearly 4.98 million mortals were under the Liang Family’s command.
• Ling Pengyun calculated that the available flying boats could carry only around eighty thousand mortals per trip and worried that relocating the Liang and Qiu families’ millions would take years.

Ling Pengyun arranged for the Liang Family to help evacuate its mortals, then brought the Qiu Family under his control and seized its resources. The Liang Family began recalling its scattered clansmen, while Ling Pengyun left with new treasures and a wood-element Golden Core cultivation method for the Ling Clan.

• Ling Pengyun ordered Liang Mingtu to gather the Liang Family’s nearly five million mortals for evacuation and promised him a path to a false core if he handled the task well.
• Liang Mingtu killed Liang Hanqian’s direct relatives to remove the Liang Family’s pledge of allegiance, cremated their bodies, and rang the clan bell to summon scattered clansmen home.
• Ling Pengyun saw that the relatives’ Life Tablets had shattered and praised Liang Mingtu for handling the matter cleanly.
• Ling Pengyun entered the Qiu Family’s territory, subdued the clan, and killed cultivators close to its former clan head, Qiu Yueyou.
• Ling Pengyun searched the Qiu Family’s resources and acquired its spirit apricot tree, formation, cultivation methods, and other inheritances, including a wood-element method complete through Golden Core Completion.

Ling Pengyun returned from Yuan Kingdom with cultivators and mortals taken from the Qiu and Liang Families, then learned how much the Ling Clan had prospered in his absence. He planned to buy Golden Core Spirit Objects and learned that Ling Penglin was close to the ideal time to attempt her Golden Core breakthrough.

• Ling Pengyun considered using the Third Rank Low Grade Spirit Apricot Tree to nurture a spirit seed, then stored the tree and arranged to borrow flying vessels from Pure Heart Old Daoist and Medicine King Zhenren.
• Ling Pengyun led Qiu Family and Liang Family cultivators and mortals back to the Ling Clan, leaving cultivators behind to guard the remaining mortals.
• Ling Pengyun reunited with Yan Siyi, whose cultivation and body-cultivation skills had greatly increased during his five-year absence.
• Ling Chengyuan told Ling Pengyun that the clan had grown to more than nine thousand cultivators, gained eight Foundation Establishment Cultivators, and accumulated over seven hundred thousand spirit stones.
• Ling Pengyun planned to sell two Third Rank Low Grade Dharma treasures and travel to the Boundless Sea Region Cultivation World to buy Golden Core Spirit Objects.
• Ling Pengyun contacted Ling Penglin, who expected to complete the seventh layer of the Profound Yang Meridian Tempering Method within half a year, bringing her close to her best chance to break through to the Golden Core Realm.

Ling Pengyun brought Ling Penglin to the Azure Sea Secret Realm while he searched for Golden Core Spirit Objects to support her breakthrough. He left her in Wang Ying’s care and set out with Wang Ying, who also hoped to obtain a spirit object for her Wood Flood Dragon.

• Ling Pengyun asked Ling Penglin whether she would attempt a Golden Core breakthrough if she mastered the Meridian Tempering Method, and she agreed.
• Ling Pengyun gathered the clan’s spirit stones, took Ling Penglin from the Teleportation Array, and arranged for Ling Yunhong to oversee the relocation of mortals and the recovering clansmen at Autumn Yuan Mountain.
• Ling Pengyun entrusted the remote Teleportation Array to the Three-Eyed White Fox and traveled with Ling Penglin to the Azure Sea Secret Realm.
• Wang Ying asked Ling Pengyun to help her find a Golden Core Spirit Object for her Wood Flood Dragon, and he agreed to take her along.
• Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying left Ling Penglin on Azure Water Island and departed the secret realm to search for Golden Core Spirit Objects.

Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying arrived at Mountain Marketplace ahead of the Mountain Immortal Sect’s thirty-year auction and browsed its shops for useful spirit objects. After buying supplies, they examined three Third Rank treasures, and Ling Pengyun became interested in the Earth Soul Soil.

• Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying arrived at Mountain Marketplace, where they learned that a major auction would offer tens of thousands of spirit objects, including Golden Core treasures.
• Ling Pengyun bought rare First Rank and Second Rank spirit objects for the Ling Clan, while Wang Ying purchased herbs and fruits for her spirit beasts.
• Wang Ying asked a shop steward to show them the store’s Third Rank spirit objects, and Ling Pengyun joined her.
• The steward presented Earth Soul Soil, a water-attribute Golden Core, and Yellow Sky Tree spirit wood, and Ling Pengyun was drawn to the Earth Soul Soil.

Ling Pengyun bought rare Earth Soul Soil and other spirit objects at Mountain Marketplace, then consigned three flying sword treasures before attending its thirty-year auction with Wang Ying. The auction reached its finale, where thirty catties of Earth Soul Soil drew fierce bidding from Golden Core cultivators.

• Ling Pengyun bought ten catties of Earth Soul Soil for fifty thousand spirit stones after learning the Mountain Immortal Sect had no more available outside the upcoming auction.
• Wang Ying declined the shop's remaining spirit objects, and she and Ling Pengyun toured Mountain Marketplace, buying rare lower-rank items before consigning three flying sword treasures at Mountain Peak Auction House.
• Two months later, Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying attended the crowded thirty-year auction and watched more than fifty thousand ordinary spirit objects sell over nine days.
• Ling Pengyun spent tens of thousands of spirit stones on hundreds of items, including two Second Rank High Grade spirit trees and several demon beast cubs selected by Wang Ying.
• The auction offered thirty catties of Third Rank Low Grade Earth Soul Soil as a single lot, and several well-funded Golden Core cultivators competed fiercely for it.

Ling Pengyun won the Earth Essence Spirit Fluid and the Pseudo Core Forming Pill at auction, then left with Wang Ying after attracting the attention of Golden Core cultivators. They reached Misty Water Marketplace to prepare for another auction where a Golden Core Spirit Object was expected to appear.

• Ling Pengyun watched the Po Jin Sword he had consigned sell for 515,000 spirit stones and calculated his growing funds from the auctioned treasures.
• The auctioneer revealed that the Earth Essence Spirit Fluid was a naturally nurtured Golden Core Spirit Object, and Ling Pengyun won it with a bid of 350,000 spirit stones.
• Ling Pengyun also won the Pseudo Core Forming Pill for 350,000 spirit stones, intending it for Golden Core Seedlings in his family.
• Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying left the marketplace through several Teleportation Arrays after Golden Core cultivators began following them.
• Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying settled in Misty Water Marketplace, where they planned to attend an auction a year later that was expected to feature an ordinary-grade Golden Core Spirit Object.

Ling Pengyun strengthened his Azure Sea Heavy Yuan Treasure Pearl and prepared for a safe retreat after the Misty Water Auction. At the auction, demonic-path goods drew bidders, and the sale of captured female demonic cultivators as Cauldrons began.

• Ling Pengyun fused fifty thousand jin of Water Spirit Iron into his Azure Sea Heavy Yuan Treasure Pearl, increasing its weight to three hundred and eighty thousand jin.
• Ling Pengyun learned from Wang Ying that she had arranged a retreat route, then began refining Liang Hanqian’s corpse into a demonic corpse to prepare for danger.
• The ten-yearly Misty Water Auction opened at Misty Water Marketplace with thousands of spirit objects and drew a large crowd of cultivators.
• The auction shifted to selling demonic-path spirit objects, including Corpse Puppets, which the attendees bid on.
• The Darkwater Sect auctioneer presented thirty captive female demonic cultivators as Cauldrons and opened bidding on a Qi Training Second Layer cultivator at ten spirit stones.

The Misty Water Auction reached its finale, where a weak Demon Core Forming Pill sparked fierce bidding despite its drawbacks. Ling Pengyun considered helping Wang Ying buy it but withdrew when the price climbed, since the Ling Clan already possessed a method to neutralize its demonic qi.

• On the fifth day of the auction, the finale items appeared, including a low-grade Demon Core Forming Pill that disappointed many Golden Core cultivators.
• The auction host offered a secret art to neutralize the pill’s demonic qi, and the price climbed as bidders sought both the pill and the method.
• Wang Ying bid three hundred and twenty thousand spirit stones, then declined Ling Pengyun’s offer to lend her more.
• Ling Pengyun promised to return to the Boundless Sea Region in a few years to purchase Golden Core spirit objects for his clan’s Golden Core Seedlings.
• Ling Pengyun joined the bidding and raised the price to three hundred and forty thousand spirit stones, but stopped when it rose further.
• The Demon Core Forming Pill sold for four hundred and eighteen thousand spirit stones to someone else, while Ling Pengyun held back because the Ling Clan already had a secret art to neutralize its demonic qi.

Ling Pengyun decided to give Ling Penglin a strand of Yin Yang Primordial Qi to improve her chances of reaching the Golden Core realm. As he and Wang Ying fled north, they discovered eleven Golden Core cultivators pursuing them, and the hidden sect member sent to meet them ordered them to continue toward Water Source Marketplace while the stranger faced the pursuers alone.

• Ling Pengyun decided that helping Ling Penglin with a strand of Yin Yang Primordial Qi would strengthen her foundation and improve her chance of forming a middle-grade Golden Core.
• Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying left Misty Water Marketplace and flew north, where Ling Pengyun sensed five groups of Golden Core cultivators tracking them.
• Wang Ying reassured Ling Pengyun that she carried Spirit Talismans from Azure Water True Person and that their contact had promised they would be safe unless a Nascent Soul cultivator appeared.
• After several days of flight, Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying saw a black-clad, veiled figure approach and identify itself as the sect member sent to meet them.
• The hidden figure told Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying to continue to Water Source Marketplace and use its Teleportation Array, then sped past them to confront the pursuers alone.

Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying escaped their pursuers with help from a powerful black-clad cultivator, returned to Azure Water Island, and prepared Ling Penglin to attempt a Golden Core breakthrough. The helper was revealed as Huang Mingxu, who returned to Four Seasons Island and indulged his concubines.

• The black-clad cultivator killed two Golden Core Middle Stage pursuers, drove the remaining pursuers to flee, and covered Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying's retreat.
• Ling Pengyun and Wang Ying reached Water Source Market Town, used teleportation arrays to cross several sea regions, and returned safely to Azure Water Island.
• Ling Pengyun gave Ling Penglin the Golden Core resources he had bought and transferred his remaining Yin Yang Primordial Qi to her; she swore an oath, accepted a memory restriction, and entered seclusion to attempt a breakthrough.
• The black-clad cultivator escaped the battlefield and revealed himself as Huang Mingxu, clan head of the Four Seasons Huang Family, before returning to Four Seasons Island.
• Huang Mingxu reunited with his twenty-four concubines, then accepted two female demonic cultivators brought by a Golden Core Middle Stage clan member.

Ling Penglin risked her remaining lifespan to overcome an unstable foundation and complete her Golden Core breakthrough atop Core Breaking Peak. After surviving the tribulation and recovering her youth, she gained a new conviction to protect the Ling Clan and pursue the Dao.

• Ling Penglin regretted neglecting to stabilize her foundation and resolved to warn the clan, especially Cheng Xin, about the danger.
• With her Golden Core breakthrough faltering, Ling Penglin cast the Spirit Burning Technique, Blood Burning Technique, and Lifespan Burning Technique to increase her strength, despite the severe cost to her body and lifespan.
• Ling Penglin consumed restorative spiritual items and pushed through her failing meridians until she condensed all her spiritual power into Solidified Spiritual Power.
• An earthy yellow light devoured the Solidified Spiritual Power and formed an inferior Golden Core, after which the Thunder Spirit Tree and the Lightning Guiding Tribulation Crossing Grand Array blocked all nine lightning tribulations.
• The tribulation's sweet dew healed Ling Penglin and restored her youthful appearance, while her new Golden Core Realm aura and a vision of the sun inspired her to vow to shelter the Ling Clan.