Chapter Summaries

Ling Pengyun and Ling Ruxian rushed to rescue Ling Penglin, but the Ghost Fiend Couple ambushed them on the way. As the battle began, Ling Pengyun destroyed one of their vicious ghosts and turned his attacks toward another.

• Ling Pengyun's Clan Token signaled that Ling Penglin was in danger, so he flew south toward Fruit Bee Ridge, where Ling Ruxian joined him on his Immortal Spirit Crane.
• Han Yan and Liu Yi ambushed Ling Ruxian and Ling Pengyun from a forest, and Ling Ruxian recognized them as the notorious Ghost Fiend Couple.
• Ling Ruxian launched his Earthly Fiend Sword Formation while Han Yan and Liu Yi summoned their Hundred Ghost Banners and attacked the Immortal Spirit Crane with flying swords.
• Ling Pengyun used his Black Iron Sword, Gold Spirit Sword, and Water Arrow Technique against the vicious ghosts blocking his path.
• Ling Pengyun blasted apart one Qi Training Middle Stage vicious ghost and redirected his attacks toward another.

Ling Ruxian unleashed the full power of his sword formation to defeat the Ghost Fiend Couple’s horde of evil ghosts and kill Han Yan and Li Yi, who had targeted Ling Pengyun. After Ling Pengyun collected their belongings, he and Ling Ruxian flew south to support Ling Penglin.

• Ling Ruxian empowered his twelve flying swords with sword intent, scattering most of the evil ghosts and forcing Han Yan and Li Yi to use blood essence to strengthen their remaining ghosts.
• The strengthened blood ghosts attacked Ling Ruxian and Ling Pengyun, but Ling Pengyun used Golden Light Talismans, Water Shield Techniques, and stored spiritual power to hold off four Qi Training Completion ghosts.
• Ling Ruxian’s sword formation destroyed the remaining blood ghosts, then broke through Han Yan and Li Yi’s defenses and killed them.
• Ling Ruxian deduced that the Ghost Fiend Couple sought revenge because Ling Pengyun had killed a demonic cultivator three years earlier, likely their blood descendant.
• Ling Pengyun collected the couple’s Storage Bags and black flying swords, burned their remains, and then rode south with Ling Ruxian to aid Ling Penglin.

Ling Pengyun and Ling Ruxian rescued Ling Penglin from four Blazing Fire Wolves trapped in her Bewildering Formation. After dividing the beasts’ remains, Ling Pengyun returned to Azure Stone Mountain with materials he planned to use for refining magic items.

• Ling Pengyun and Ling Ruxian arrived at Fruit Bee Ridge and found Ling Penglin safe inside her formations, with four Blazing Fire Wolves trapped in the mist.
• Ling Ruxian killed the four wolves with four Azure Flying Swords, then praised Ling Penglin’s formation skill and reminded her to improve her cultivation.
• Ling Ruxian left to guard Azure Stone Lake, and Ling Pengyun asked Ling Penglin for the wolves’ materials in exchange for an equal share of the magic items he refined.
• Ling Pengyun and Ling Penglin harvested the wolves’ materials, and Ling Pengyun gave Ling Penglin most of their flesh and blood before returning to Azure Stone Mountain.
• Ling Pengyun restored his spiritual power, examined the demonic flying swords and sealed Storage Bags he had acquired, and prepared to refine Gather Fire Daoist Robes and Azure Profound Swords from the wolf materials.

Ling Pengyun refined a Gather Fire Daoist Robe and, over the next thirteen days, used Blazing Fire Wolf materials and Azure Profound Iron to produce another robe and two Azure Profound Swords. He broke even while improving his refining skills, and planned to seek materials for crafting First Grade Middle Rank Magic Tools after further practice.

• Ling Pengyun destroyed two demonic flying swords and reviewed the Lingxiao Refining Treasure Tome before beginning work on a Gather Fire Daoist Robe.
• Ling Pengyun refined a Blazing Fire Wolf hide into a mid-grade Gather Fire Daoist Robe on his first attempt.
• Over thirteen days, Ling Pengyun used the Blazing Fire Wolf materials and thirty jin of Azure Profound Iron to refine four robes and ten swords, successfully making one more robe and two Azure Profound Swords.
• Ling Pengyun calculated that the three mid-grade magic tools had earned him a small profit while improving his refining skill.
• Ling Pengyun planned to improve his Round Iron Shield success rate and later ask the clan for materials to refine First Grade Middle Rank Magic Tools, then replenished his depleted spiritual power.

Ling Penglin delivered the Spirit Gathering Array she had refined for Ling Pengyun, who paid her with magical items. He activated the array to accelerate the growth of his Spirit Beast Eggs, then resumed his strict daily cultivation routine.

• Ling Penglin brought Ling Pengyun the Spirit Gathering Array formation flags and Control Array Disk, and accepted four magical items in exchange for them.
• Ling Penglin taught Ling Pengyun the incantation for activating the array before returning to Fruit Bee Ridge.
• Ling Pengyun set up the Spirit Gathering Array around his spirit stones and Spirit Beast Eggs, and activated it to concentrate spiritual energy.
• The array sped up the eggs’ growth, though it consumed spirit stones rapidly; Ling Pengyun expected the Songhua Chicken eggs to hatch within three months and the Wind Shadow Peng egg by year’s end.
• After checking the eggs, Ling Pengyun followed his strict schedule of plant care, study, and cultivation.

Ling Pengyun tended his spirit fields, visited Cloud Mist Market to buy spirit fruits, a Golden Light Talisman, and sword materials, then refined Azure Bamboo Swords and watched his crops and Songhua Chicken eggs mature. The chapter left him raising seven newly hatched Songhua Spirit Chickens in his cave.

• Ling Pengyun watered his six mu of spirit fields and fed Blazing Fire Wolf meat to the two Yellow-Feathered Sparrows guarding them.
• Ling Ruxian delivered Ling Pengyun’s half-year stipend, and Ling Pengyun left for Cloud Mist Market that night to visit Ling Rushui.
• Ling Pengyun bought thirteen spirit fruits, a First Rank High Grade Golden Light Talisman, and seven sets of Azure Bamboo Sword materials.
• Ling Pengyun refined five Azure Bamboo Swords and sold them to the family for a net profit of fifty-five spirit stones.
• The three kinds of spirit plants on Azure Stone Mountain matured by mid-July, and seven Songhua Chicken Spirit Eggs hatched by the end of August.
• Ling Pengyun kept the seven Songhua Spirit Chickens in his cave and fed them Yellow Jade Spirit Grain each day.

Ling Pengyun’s Wind Shadow Peng hatched at Innate Perfection, and he named it Wind Shadow and ordered it to cultivate inside a Spirit Gathering Array. He also struggled to contain his noisy Pineflower Chickens and arranged for daily beast meat to be delivered to the mountain.

• Ling Pengyun watched the Wind Shadow Peng hatch from its spirit egg and discovered that it had been born at Innate Perfection.
• Ling Pengyun named the newly hatched Peng Wind Shadow, then placed it in a Spirit Gathering Array and instructed it to cultivate until it reached Qi Training.
• Ling Pengyun worried about the cost of feeding Wind Shadow once it needed Qi Training Demon Beast meat and complained that his seven Little Pine Flower Chickens kept breaking out of their coop.
• Ling Pengyun fed the seven Little Pine Flower Chickens Yellow Jade Spirit Grain and resumed cultivation.
• At dawn, Ling Pengyun asked Ling Dong to deliver around ten jin of beast flesh to the foot of the mountain each day.

Ling Pengyun helped the Wind Shadow Peng learn to fly, then successfully combined the Yi Wood Essence of Water Spirit Rice and Golden Marrow Spirit Rice to create an unfamiliar green spirit rice seed. He stored the unstable seed for later testing, which he planned to do after returning to the clan next year.

• The Wind Shadow Peng injured itself trying to fly inside the cave, so Ling Pengyun took it to the mountaintop, where it learned to soar and stabilize its flight.
• Ling Pengyun began improving spirit rice by combining the Yi Wood Essence of Golden Marrow Spirit Rice with Water Spirit Rice.
• Ling Pengyun used the Thorn Vine's Yi Wood Essence to calm the conflict between the two sources, and the Water Spirit Rice seed turned green after they fused.
• Ling Pengyun realized he had created an unfamiliar spirit rice seed but decided he could not test it before leaving Azure Stone Mountain for the clan next year.
• Ling Pengyun sealed the seed in a Spirit-Locking Jade Box and returned to his daily spell comprehension.

Ling Pengyun harvested and replanted the fields on Azure Stone Mountain before holding Azure Stone Village’s annual spirit-root test. After testing nearly fifteen hundred children over five years and finding only Ling Shan, he remained disappointed when another child showed no spirit roots.

• Ling Rufan paid Ling Pengyun four hundred spirit stones in Mine Dividends and told him he could return home after testing the village children in January.
• Ling Pengyun harvested the spirit plants, kept his share of Yellow Jade Spirit Rice for his Songhua Spirit Chickens, and planted new seeds across the six mu of fields.
• Ling Pengyun found that the Yellow Jade Spirit Rice fields had reached Grade One and hoped the Qi Training Grass field would do so before his departure.
• On January first, Ling Dong gathered Azure Stone Village’s eight-year-old children and sent them into the Ancestral Hall for spirit-root tests.
• Ling Pengyun tested the children and found no spirit roots in the little girl before him, leaving him disappointed after five years of testing nearly fifteen hundred children and finding only Ling Shan.

Ling Pengyun discovered that Ling Qiu had spirit roots during testing in Azure Stone Village, then completed his five-year assignment guarding Azure Stone Mountain when Ling Pengliang arrived to replace him. After showing Ling Pengliang the mountain and hosting him a welcome feast, Ling Pengyun packed his animals and belongings and flew away with the Little Wind Shadow Peng.

• Ling Pengyun found that Ling Qiu’s Spirit Root Testing Stone shone brightly, confirming that the boy had spirit roots.
• Ling Pengyun tested the remaining children but found no one else with spirit roots.
• Ling Pengliang arrived at Azure Stone Mountain to relieve Ling Pengyun, and Ling Pengyun learned that he had reached the Qi Training Fourth Layer and become a Spirit Plant Farmer.
• Ling Pengyun explained the mountain’s spirit plants and duties to Ling Pengliang, then took him to visit Ling Rufan and Ling Dong and prepared him a feast of Azure Moon Spirit Fish.
• Ling Pengyun gathered his earthworms, chickens, Fruit Flower Bees, and belongings, then left Azure Stone Mountain with the Little Wind Shadow Peng.

Ling Pengyun returned to Lingxiao Mountain, reported to Ling Ruda, and bought Spirit Feeding Pills for his newly hatched Wind Shadow Peng. Ling Ruda then asked him to move to Cloudwater County to manage Lingyun Mountain, support the clan’s ties with the Yang Clan, and sell his Magic Tools through his parents’ shop.

• Ling Pengyun returned to Lingxiao Mountain after five years away and reported to Ling Ruda at the General Affairs Hall.
• Ling Ruda recognized the effects of Ling Pengyun’s Earth Spring Spirit Emulsion and learned that his Wind Shadow Peng had been born with Innate Perfection cultivation.
• Ling Pengyun spent all his remaining Contribution Points to buy twenty Spirit Feeding Pills for the Peng.
• Ling Pengyun confirmed that he had handed over Azure Stone Mountain’s affairs to Ling Pengliang.
• Ling Ruda explained why the clan wanted Ling Pengyun to go to Cloudwater County and asked whether he would take over at Lingyun Mountain as Ling Rucong approached the end of his lifespan.

Ling Pengyun accepted a four-year garrison assignment at Lingyun Mountain, received his stipend and a wedding gift for Yang Siling, then bought two magical artifacts before leaving. Five days later, Ling Ruda began testing this year's three spirit-rooted children, and Ling Qiu entered the ancestral hall for his test.

• Ling Pengyun accepted Ling Ruda's offer to serve at Lingyun Mountain and received supplies, spirit stones, and ten White Jade Grass stalks for Yang Siling's wedding gift.
• Ling Pengyun discussed spirit plants and cultivation with Ling Ruda, then spent four hundred forty spirit stones on an offensive and a defensive magical artifact.
• Ling Pengyun left Lingxiao Mountain on his Green Travel Leaf and headed toward Lingyun Mountain.
• Five days later, Ling Ruda gathered the three children with spirit roots at the Ling Clan Ancestral Hall to test their spirit-root attributes.
• Ling Ruda called Ling Qiu of Azure Stone Mountain to enter the ancestral hall first, and closed its doors after Ling Qiu went inside.

Ling Pengyun’s journey toward Cloudwater County paused when he found three Heretical Cultivators attacking a middle-aged man in a mountain hollow. Meanwhile, the Ling Clan discovered Ling Qiu’s Dual Spirit Root and warned him to keep it secret.

• Ling Yunxi tested Ling Qiu’s spirit roots, found he had a Fire-earth Dual Spirit Root, and warned him not to reveal it.
• Ling Yunxi gave Ling Qiu the generation name Ling Pengqiu and ranked him twenty-seventh in the Peng Generation.
• Ling Yunxi told Ling Ruda about Ling Pengqiu’s Dual Spirit Root, and they agreed it must be concealed from rival clans.
• After five days of travel, Ling Pengyun entered Former Qing County and rested in a concealed mountain cave while his Wind Shadow Peng kept watch.
• The Wind Shadow Peng alerted Ling Pengyun to a disturbance, and he saw three Heretical Cultivators besieging a middle-aged man who fought back with talismans.

Ling Pengyun watched three Black-Clad Heretical Cultivators kill a linen-clad cultivator, but their Spirit Seeking Rat discovered him and drew them to attack. He killed their Qi Training Late Stage leader with his artifacts and a concealed flying needle, while the two surviving Heretical Cultivators fled.

• Ling Pengyun identified the three Black-Clad Cultivators as Heretical Cultivators and watched them kill a linen-clad cultivator after he ran out of Spirit Talismans.
• A Spirit Seeking Rat found Ling Pengyun, and the Black-Clad Heretical Cultivators charged toward him.
• Ling Pengyun put the young Wind Shadow Peng into his Beast Taming Pouch and prepared his Flowing Light Sword, Turtle Spirit Shield, and Water Shields.
• Ling Pengyun struck the leading Heretical Cultivator with his Flowing Light Sword and seven Water Arrows, then killed him with a concealed flying needle.
• The two surviving Qi Training Middle Stage Black-Clad Heretical Cultivators fled in opposite directions.

Ling Pengyun killed one fleeing Heretical Cultivator but failed to find the other, then escaped to a hidden cave to examine the spoils. The surviving cultivator, Zhu Wen, reflected on his losses and decided he needed to use his savings and tools carefully.

• Ling Pengyun caught and killed the black-clad Heretical Cultivator fleeing east, but could not locate the other survivor.
• Ling Pengyun looted the battlefield, burned the three corpses, and fled deeper into the wilderness.
• Ling Pengyun hid in a cave and examined four magic tools, ten Storage Bags, and a Beast Taming Pouch that might contain a badly injured Spirit Seeking Rat.
• Ling Pengyun stored the loot and began replenishing his Dantian with residual energy from a spirit fruit.
• Zhu Wen revealed his past as a talisman apprentice who turned to robbery after his master died, then resolved to make careful use of his savings and unsold magic tools.

Zhu Wen decided to leave Huai River County and invest his resources in talisman crafting, while Ling Pengyun arrived at Cloudwater Market Town. Ling Pengyun found the town quiet and worried that his parents’ Lingxiao Sundries Shop had suffered from the decline in visitors.

• Zhu Wen resolved to abandon killing and looting for talisman crafting and planned to return to Cloudwater County because he suspected his pursuer belonged to a great clan in Huai River County.
• The chapter recounted how the Hundred Spirits Sect established Cloudwater County and how Cloudwater Market Town lost much of its business after Huai River Market Town opened.
• After recovering from the battle, Ling Pengyun flew for five days and entered Cloudwater Market Town after passing a Demon Mirror inspection and paying the toll.
• Ling Pengyun saw that the market town had few visitors and worried that his parents’ Lingxiao Sundries Shop was not doing well.
• Ling Pengyun followed his memories to the Lingxiao Grocery Store.

Ling Pengyun reunited with his father, Ling Xiaoshun, at the Lingxiao Grocery Store and told him about his new post at Lingyun Mountain. After reassuring Ling Xiaoshun about his spirit-plant skills and artifact refining, he spent several days with him before setting out for Lingyun Mountain.

• Ling Xiaoshun joyfully welcomed Ling Pengyun and was surprised that he had reached Qi Training Seventh Layer.
• Ling Pengyun explained that he had been assigned to guard Lingyun Mountain, and he proved his First Rank Middle Grade spirit-plant skills by showing his Thorn Vine.
• Ling Xiaoshun invited Ling Pengyun to attend cousin Yang Siling's wedding feast with the Yang Clan, and Ling Pengyun agreed.
• Ling Pengyun told Ling Xiaoshun that he could refine Azure Bamboo Swords and Round Iron Shields for the grocery store, then eased his father's suspicions by demonstrating his powerful divine sense.
• Ling Pengyun spent three days keeping his father company before leaving Cloudwater Market Town for Lingyun Mountain.

Ling Pengyun arrived at Lingyun Mountain to replace Ling Rucong as its spirit plant farmer, but agreed to remain under the elder’s guidance until after attending the Yang Clan and Hundred Spirits Sect wedding feast. Ling Rucong introduced him to the mountain’s fields and duties, and Ling Pengyun settled into the Bamboo House to cultivate.

• Ling Pengyun reached Lingyun Mountain and called for Ling Rucong without entering the mountain’s protection formation.
• Ling Rucong read Ling Ruda’s letter and learned that Ling Pengyun had advanced to First Rank Middle Grade in spirit plant cultivation and would take over the mountain.
• Ling Rucong agreed to retire after Ling Pengyun attended the wedding feast and led him around the mountain’s twenty-one mu of spirit fields.
• Ling Rucong explained the care and harvest requirements for the Azure Spirit Bamboo, rice, medicinal plants, and the mountain’s flock of pigeons.
• Ling Rucong prepared Ling Pengyun a bamboo-shoot and pigeon feast, then put him up in the Bamboo House.
• Ling Pengyun entered his room, absorbed Moonlight Power, and began cultivating.

Ling Pengyun established a chicken coop on Lingyun Mountain, moved Fruit Flower Bees into Lingyun Orchard, and asked Ling Yu to warn the orchard workers not to disturb them. After tending spirit plants for more than ten days, he finally erased the former owner's imprint from a Beast Taming Pouch and discovered its Spirit Seeking Rat was still alive.

• Ling Pengyun released seven hungry Songhua Spirit Chickens into a soundproof coop on Lingyun Mountain and fed them Azure Jade Spirit Rice.
• Ling Pengyun moved the Fruit Flower Bee swarm into Lingyun Orchard and instructed the queen bee not to harm the mortals there.
• Ling Pengyun asked Ling Yu to warn the orchard workers not to provoke the bees, and he reassured Ling Yu that Ling Penglin was doing well.
• Ling Pengyun spent the next ten-odd days absorbing First Sun Power and working with Ling Rucong in the Spirit Fields.
• Ling Pengyun erased the Heretical Cultivator's divine sense imprint from a Beast Taming Pouch and found that the Spirit Seeking Rat inside still had a trace of life.

Ling Pengyun rescued and bound the dying Spirit Seeking Rat, then claimed its spacious Beast Taming Pouch. Two days before the Spring Festival, he and Ling Xiaoshun traveled to Level Cloud Mountain and reached the courtyard of Ling Pengyun’s maternal grandfather, Yang Minghua.

• Ling Pengyun established a Recognition of Ownership Restriction on the unconscious Spirit Seeking Rat and used Yi Wood Essence and spirit fruit to stabilize its injuries.
• The Spirit Seeking Rat woke, recognized its connection to Ling Pengyun, and went back to sleep to recover.
• Ling Pengyun judged the rat’s aptitude damaged and decided he might seek a better one later; he also imprinted the three-zhang Beast Taming Pouch with his divine sense.
• Two days before the Spring Festival, Ling Xiaoshun joined Ling Pengyun, and they traveled more than three thousand li to the Yang Clan’s Level Cloud Mountain.
• Yang Clan members escorted Ling Pengyun and Ling Xiaoshun through the mountain’s inspections to Yang Minghua’s courtyard, then their guide departed.