Chapter Summaries

Luo Chen learned that Blood Nightmare Fiend had visited and invited him to meet in Emerald Cold City, while Cheng Haixin revealed that her brother Cheng Dou had died after failing to form his core. After recovering and cultivating on Moon Invitation Island, Luo Chen decided the Flying Swallow Islands could not meet his needs and began preparing to leave by refining a large stock of pills.

• Luo Chen learned that Blood Nightmare Fiend had visited and wanted to meet him in Emerald Cold City, and Han Zhan concealed the Bloodmare Seal so it could not be used to locate him.
• Cheng Haixin told Luo Chen that Cheng Dou had failed to form his core and died, and that she now headed the Black Swan Island Cheng Family.
• Luo Chen dismissed Cheng Haixin and reflected that the Flying Swallow Islands lacked the resources he needed for faster cultivation.
• Luo Chen recovered from his injuries and resumed cultivation, but found Moon Invitation Island's Spirit Vein too weak to support his ambitions.
• Luo Chen decided to leave the Flying Swallow Islands eventually and began refining large quantities of pills to prepare for the journey and establish his reputation as an Alchemy Grandmaster.

Luo Chen endured the agony of using Tier 4 Black Emperor Ointment and planned his next steps in body tempering, pill refining, and acquiring a defensive Magic Treasure. After treating Xu Muxian’s injuries, he considered the man’s uncertain prospects for Core Formation as Xu Muxian asked whether he had any hope of reaching it.

• Xu Muxian delivered settled Jade Dew Pills to Luo Chen, who checked them and stored the batch.
• Luo Chen endured the severe pain of absorbing Tier 4 Black Emperor Ointment and decided to rely mainly on Tier 3 ointment until his body tempering stalled.
• Luo Chen rewarded Black King with a bottle of top-grade Tier 2 Pills and learned from Xu Muxian that Tian Xuan was living comfortably on Seaview Cliff.
• Luo Chen planned to refine high-grade Myriad Stars Pills and considered having the Profound Rock Armor crafted into a defensive Magic Treasure.
• Xu Muxian asked Luo Chen whether he had any hope of reaching the Core Formation Stage.

Luo Chen confronted Xu Muxian’s doubts about whether pursuing cultivation was worth the effort, then encouraged him to seek a wider world. After three years of pill refining on the Flying Swallow Islands, Luo Chen received an invitation to a major auction at Emerald Cold City and prepared to leave, ending by offering a Transformation Pill to Tian Xuan and Black King.

• Xu Muxian told Luo Chen that he feared years of cultivation might lead nowhere and wished to spend his life pursuing happiness and meaning.
• Luo Chen reflected on how rewards had sustained his own cultivation and urged Xu Muxian to leave the Flying Swallow Islands someday and see the wider world.
• Luo Chen spent three years refining large quantities of pills, while the Flying Swallow families endured the strain of supplying his work.
• Cheng Haixin delivered an invitation from Wu Qi to an auction in Emerald Cold City, and Luo Chen realized the city’s ruler was preparing to choose an alliance amid the Northern Sea’s turmoil.
• Luo Chen decided to attend the auction, but Cheng Haixin hesitated to leave her family and departed after he told her to go for now.
• Luo Chen summoned Tian Xuan and Black King and offered them the Transformation Pill he had refined.

Luo Chen gave Tian Xuan a Transformation Pill after Black King declined it, believing his bloodline might favor the ancient Desolate Beast cultivation path. As Luo Chen prepared to leave the Flying Swallow Islands, he summoned the region’s leaders and began making arrangements for the Cheng Family to govern in his absence.

• Luo Chen explained the Transformation Pill to Black King and Tian Xuan, but Black King gave it to Tian Xuan, citing his lingering Cliff Serpent essence and an instinct that the Desolate Beast path suited him better.
• Tian Xuan accepted the pill, thanked Black King, and flew back to Seaview Cliff while he returned to Ten Li Calm Lake.
• Cheng Haixin considered joining Luo Chen but decided she could not abandon the Cheng Family, whose safety might be threatened after he left.
• Luo Chen sensed the families’ unease about his departure and summoned Cheng Haixin, the family heads, and the archipelago’s Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators to Moon Invitation Island.
• Luo Chen announced that he would leave in three months and ordered the Cheng Family to become the temporary Lord of the Flying Swallows, controlling Moon Invitation Island’s grand formation access tokens until a local Golden Core Cultivator emerged.

Luo Chen secured the Cheng Family’s position on the Flying Swallows Islands with a blood contract, then prepared for his departure by training and accepting robes from Cheng Haixin. On the night before he left, Cheng Haixin declared her feelings, and the two spent the night together.

• Luo Chen appointed the Cheng Family temporary Lord of the Flying Swallows, protected them with rules for borrowing Spirit Lands, and ended the families’ obligation to supply him with medicinal ingredients.
• Luo Chen bound the families to the three agreements with a Flying Swallow Blood Contract and hid it beneath Moon Invitation Island’s Third-Tier Spirit Vein.
• Luo Chen discussed Spirit Stone Ore and the method for making Spirit Stones with Han Zhan, then left to train his body for three months before departing.
• Cheng Haixin brought Luo Chen three feathered Dharma Robes in red, black, and white, and helped him change into the white one.
• Cheng Haixin told Luo Chen she was willing to give herself to him despite his impending departure, and they spent the night together.

Cheng Haixin chose to remain on Moon Invitation Island and cultivate, while Luo Chen traveled under an assumed identity with Tian Xuan to avoid attracting the Devilbreak Sect’s attention. Aboard a White Family merchant ship, Luo Chen examined Tian Xuan’s transformed body and began assembling a suitable demon cultivation method.

• Cheng Haixin refused to become the Cheng Family head, entrusted its leadership to Cheng Haichang, and resolved to cultivate on Moon Invitation Island with Luo Chen’s Tier 3 Puppet and five sea snakes protecting her.
• Luo Chen explained to Han Zhan that he had left Cheng Haixin a safe retreat, then arrived at White Sand Island under the name Luo Hai with Tian Xuan, whose Demon Qi remained difficult to conceal.
• Luo Chen paid to board the White Family merchant ship, concealing his Golden Core cultivation and choosing the slower route so Tian Xuan could practice hiding her aura without drawing the Flying Swallow Merchant Group’s notice.
• The White Family Old Ancestor examined Luo Chen and Tian Xuan, mistook them for low-level cultivators, and ordered Bai Xiang to double their passage fee.
• Luo Chen examined Tian Xuan’s transformed body and told her he expected to devise a suitable cultivation method within days, then explained to Han Zhan that he planned to combine methods with similar principles.

Luo Chen helped defend the Bai Family merchant ship from a demon-beast horde, but a Golden Core cultivator named He Yuan arrived and commandeered the vessel. Back in his cabin, Luo Chen sensed strange Mana from He Yuan, and Han Zhan identified it as pure Demonic Qi.

• Luo Chen deduced a new Cultivation Method during the voyage while Tian Xuan practiced her concealment art.
• A demon-beast horde attacked the merchant ship, and Luo Chen joined Bai Xiang and the other passengers in fighting it.
• Bai Xiang used his Magic Treasure to kill a Black Green Treasure Basin, but five more Late-Stage Tier 2 Sea Demons appeared and killed two fleeing cultivators.
• He Yuan arrived, killed the three Golden Arrow Demon Fish, commandeered the ship, and ordered it to sail straight to Emerald Cold City.
• Luo Chen withdrew to his cabin and asked about He Yuan's strange Mana, and Han Zhan said it was pure Demonic Qi.

Luo Chen learned from Han Zhan that He Yuan was a direct descendant of the Primal Devil Lineage and chose to observe him rather than make contact. During the voyage to Cold Light Island, Luo Chen used Han Zhan’s guidance to create a cultivation method for demons, arriving at the harbor with the method completed and promising Tian Xuan a path to the Great Dao.

• Han Zhan explained the nature of Demonic Qi, and Luo Chen realized He Yuan was a genuine Primal Devil Sect cultivator from the Primal Devil Lineage.
• Luo Chen decided not to approach He Yuan until he learned more about his temperament and origins.
• He Yuan’s presence deterred demon beasts during the Bai Family Merchant Group’s voyage, while Foundation Establishment cultivators discussed pledging allegiance to him.
• Luo Chen spent the journey drafting a demon cultivation method, incorporating principles from the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture.
• The merchant ship reached Cold Light Island, and Luo Chen announced that he had completed the method for Tian Xuan.

Luo Chen created a cultivation method for Demon Cultivators and gave it to Tian Xuan before arriving at Cold Light Island. A dockside mix-up let him avoid the Devilbreak Sect’s welcome, and he headed toward Emerald Cold City while learning why He Yuan could command respect despite being only a Golden Core Cultivator.

• Luo Chen gave Tian Xuan his newly created Demon Cultivator method, and she knelt to thank him as her Master.
• Luo Chen, Tian Xuan, and Han Zhan left the ship and watched Wu Qi mistakenly welcome He Yuan, who demanded to see the Blood Nightmare Fiend before Wu Qi recognized his pure Demonic Qi.
• Wu Qi’s group escorted He Yuan away, while Luo Chen slipped off the White Family merchant ship unnoticed and Bai Xiang wondered where Luo Hai had gone.
• Luo Chen and Han Zhan discussed how He Yuan’s status as a gifted direct successor of the Primal Devil Lineage let him speak boldly to a Nascent Soul True Person.
• Luo Chen decided to settle in Emerald Cold City and walked toward the city at sunset.

After settling in Emerald Cold City, Luo Chen secured a secluded cave mansion and prepared to sell the demon crab materials he had collected. While refining a cultivation method for Tian Xuan, he entered an Epiphany that could transform his strength or smooth his future path.

• Luo Chen saw through Liu Zhenwei’s attempt to lure him into a scam and used Mirror Flower Water Moon to make Liu step aside.
• Luo Chen rented a Tier 3 cave mansion from the Zhou Family and concealed the valley with the Azure Cloud Dense Mist Great Array, which Han Zhan strengthened.
• Luo Chen sorted his demon crab materials and sent Tian Xuan to sell them at several shops before the Trade Fair.
• Luo Chen began writing the Cosmic Feather Mystic Scripture, comparing its methods with his own Qi Refining and Body Tempering cultivation.
• Han Zhan recognized that Luo Chen had entered an Epiphany and strengthened the valley’s array to protect him.

Tian Xuan sold batches of Demon Crab materials across Emerald Cold City, learning to negotiate and amassing millions of Spirit Stones for Luo Chen. She entered the Heavenly Origin Commerce League with her final, most valuable batch, where a cultivator detected that she was a Transformation Demon Cultivator.

• Tian Xuan sold a large batch of Azure Emperor Crab materials to Qian Datong for seven hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones after using her Spiritual Pressure to force a better price.
• Tian Xuan reflected on her master's request and decided to improve her trading skills rather than let merchants take advantage of her.
• Tian Xuan learned to sell Tier 2 materials to smaller shops and reserve Tier 3 Demon King materials for larger establishments, then accumulated millions of Spirit Stones.
• Tian Xuan brought her remaining materials from several kinds of Third Order Demon Kings to Emerald Cold Central Avenue and entered the Heavenly Origin Commerce League.
• A fat cultivator on the tower's seventh floor saw Tian Xuan in a Bronze Mirror and exclaimed that she was a Transformation Demon Cultivator.

Tian Xuan sold her Demon Crab materials to Fu Chaosheng and browsed Heaven Origin Tower, where she coveted a powerful fan but could not afford it. After Fu Chaosheng protected her from a planned ambush, he followed her to a hidden valley and witnessed signs of Nascent Soul Formation.

• Tian Xuan sold Fu Chaosheng Tier 3 Demon Crab materials for three million Spirit Stones, paid in High-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Tian Xuan admired the Nine Wind Banana Leaf Fan but declined to buy it because it cost three million Spirit Stones.
• Five Golden Core cultivators plotted to kill Tian Xuan and divide her belongings, but Fu Chaosheng’s pressure stopped them and forced them to retreat.
• Fu Chaosheng followed Tian Xuan’s Evasive Light to a guarded valley and sensed an unfamiliar Nascent Soul aura.
• A surge of spiritual energy gathered over the valley, and Fu Chaosheng recognized the signs of Nascent Soul Formation.

Luo Chen’s attempt to understand a cultivation method unexpectedly triggered signs of Nascent Soul Formation, leaving him badly injured. Fu Chaosheng visited the valley, gave him a Returning Yang Pill, and departed; Luo Chen took the pill and secluded himself to recover and prepare for future cultivation.

• Fu Chaosheng sensed signs of Nascent Soul Formation outside Luo Chen’s valley, entered after the strange aura vanished, and found Luo Chen struggling to control his surging Mana and Divine Sense.
• Fu Chaosheng learned that Luo Chen was a Golden Core Fourth Layer cultivator, then gave him a distinguished guest token and a Returning Yang Pill before leaving.
• Tian Xuan reported her conversation with Fu Chaosheng, and Luo Chen reassured her that the visitor had helped rather than caused trouble.
• Luo Chen consulted Han Zhan, who explained that Fu Chaosheng had not discovered him and that the Returning Yang Pill could repair the damage from his breakthrough attempt.
• Luo Chen recalled that perfecting the Cosmic Feather Mystic Scripture had led him to comprehend a Nascent Soul Method, then swallowed the pill and entered seclusion to recover.

After recovering from his epiphany, Luo Chen visited Fu Chaosheng to repay the Returning Yang Pill and seek advice about the Northern Sea’s major powers. Fu Chaosheng warned him about the Blood Nightmare Fiend and cast doubt on the Azure Sea Alliance, leaving Luo Chen uncertain where to seek shelter when Dan Shubao entered with a Banana Leaf Fan.

• Luo Chen recovered over three days, raised his Golden Core Fourth Layer progress to thirty percent, and learned to convert his Mana among the Five Elements.
• Luo Chen took Tian Xuan to Heaven Origin Tower and presented Fu Chaosheng with specialties, Emperor Flow Paste, and Thousand-Year Thunder Essence in repayment for the Returning Yang Pill.
• Fu Chaosheng explained the strengths and weaknesses of the Devilbreak Sect, Penglai Immortal Sect, Azure Sea Righteous Path Alliance, and Ten Thousand Immortals Society.
• Fu Chaosheng warned Luo Chen not to serve the Blood Nightmare Fiend, saying his apparent kindness was a mask and that disciples of the Primal Devil Sect would be in danger.
• Luo Chen abandoned his hope that Fu Chaosheng would help him approach the Heaven Origin Dao Sect and worried over where to go next as Dan Shubao entered holding a Banana Leaf Fan.

Luo Chen attended a Golden Core gathering at Heaven Origin Tower, where he puzzled over Fu Chaosheng’s favors and suspected a political alliance involving Penglai Immortal Sect and Devilbreak Sect. He traded his Emperor Flow Paste for a defensive Magic Treasure refinement method from Yu Gao, leaving the gathering with the method he wanted.

• Fu Chaosheng sold Luo Chen a Nine Wind Banana Leaf Fan at a steep discount and invited him to a private gathering of Golden Core Cultivators.
• Luo Chen discussed Fu Chaosheng’s favors with Han Zhan, then gave Tian Xuan the Cosmic Feather Mystic Scripture and the Banana Leaf Fan.
• At Heaven Origin Tower, Luo Chen observed Yu Gao of Penglai Immortal Sect and five Devilbreak Sect cultivators arriving and suspected their factions were forming an alliance through the Heavenly Origin Commerce League.
• During the gathering’s barter exchange, Luo Chen offered Top-Grade Emperor Flow Paste and Spirit Stones for a method of refining a defensive Magic Treasure from a demon turtle shell.
• Yu Gao offered a complete defensive Magic Treasure refinement method for five bottles of Emperor Flow Paste and two hundred thousand Spirit Stones, and Luo Chen accepted.

Luo Chen traded five bottles of Top-Grade Emperor Flow Paste for Yu Gao’s refining method for defensive armor and attended a gathering where cultivators coordinated over the coming auction. After leaving, he studied the method and decided to attempt crafting the life-saving treasure himself, while Wu Qi remained wary of the Blood Nightmare Lineage’s secretive experts.

• Yu Gao exchanged twenty High-Grade Spirit Stones for five bottles of Emperor Flow Paste, and Luo Chen obtained a method for refining armor that defended against both energy and physical attacks.
• Luo Chen denied being an Alchemy Grandmaster when Wu Qi questioned him, and Wu Qi asked about his spirit beast before apologizing for prying.
• Dan Shubao led cultivators in negotiating over desired auction items, while Wu Qi explained that Fei Leng True Person had organized the auction and was tied to the Penglai Immortal Sect and Primal Devil Sect.
• After Luo Chen left, Wu Qi and Eagle Demon discussed the Blood Nightmare Lineage’s secluded members, including He Yuan, and wondered which Penglai Immortal Sect elder had arrived.
• Back in the valley, Luo Chen studied the defensive armor method and told Han Zhan he would rather forge a treasure himself than entrust it to someone else.

Luo Chen examined an unusually demanding method for refining a defensive Magic Treasure and decided to tackle its challenges himself. At the Emerald Cold City Auction Convention, he reviewed the lots for materials he needed before Han Zhan asked him to bid on a rare piece of Soul Nourishing Wood.

• Luo Chen assessed his artifact-crafting skills and realized the iron slip’s method required rare supplementary ores and a Fourth Order Two Elements Six Armor Array.
• Luo Chen resolved to refine the treasure using the Demon Emperor Remains as its main material, despite the method’s difficulty.
• Luo Chen entered the Cold Palace auction with his Heaven Origin Tower distinguished guest invitation and was escorted to a private box.
• Luo Chen studied the auction catalog for Nascent Soul Pill ingredients and defensive Magic Treasure materials.
• Han Zhan asked Luo Chen to bid on a three-thousand-year-old piece of Soul Nourishing Wood that might help restore his strength.

Luo Chen negotiated with Han Zhan over a three-thousand-year-old piece of Soul Nourishing Wood, agreeing to obtain it in exchange for the Core Pill Art and the Nascent Soul Pill Formula. At the Emerald Cold City auction, the first lot was revealed as a portable Mid-Third Order Black Green Treasure Basin Fish, but its one-million-Spirit-Stone starting price stopped Luo Chen from bidding.

• Han Zhan urged Luo Chen to buy the Soul Nourishing Wood and offered to teach him the Core Pill Art, which could eventually let him form a second Nascent Soul incarnation.
• Luo Chen resisted spending his funds because he needed Nascent Soul Pill ingredients and defensive treasures, so Han Zhan offered the Nascent Soul Pill Formula and details of his own pill-taking experience in exchange for the wood.
• Luo Chen agreed to obtain the Soul Nourishing Wood as the Emerald Cold City auction began, with Leng Ruolan serving as host.
• Leng Ruolan presented a Mid-Third Order Black Green Treasure Basin Fish that had been nurtured into a portable cultivation blessed land equivalent to a Tier 3 Low-Grade Spirit Vein.
• When Leng Ruolan set the fish's starting bid at one million Low-Grade Spirit Stones, Luo Chen decided not to raise his banner.

Luo Chen spent heavily on auction materials for defensive Magic Treasures and drew attention with his frequent bids. When the Soul Nourishing Wood Han Zhan needed appeared, Luo Chen immediately bid two million Spirit Stones, leaving the auction hall stunned.

• The Black Green Treasure Basin Fish sold for seven million Spirit Stones, and Han Zhan explained that its artificial Tier 3 Spirit Vein had costly flaws and would last only as long as the fish.
• Luo Chen bought Source Mud for 105,000 Spirit Stones and a batch of Woven Gold for 170,000 as he gathered materials for defensive Magic Treasures.
• The auction featured a Mermaid and ten cauldrons sold by the Devilbreak Sect, while Luo Chen continued bidding on materials and ignored other tempting lots.
• Wu Qi and his companions discussed Luo Chen's wealth and learned from He Yuan that he had arrived aboard a White Family merchant ship.
• Blood Nightmare and Emerald Cold True Person discussed their plan to win Ji Yuan Shixiong's support and warned that Elder Fu could disrupt it by bidding.
• Leng Ruolan presented three-thousand-year-old Soul Nourishing Wood tainted with baleful energy, and Luo Chen bid two million Spirit Stones, declaring that he was determined to obtain it.

Luo Chen won the chance to buy Ding Yi’s thousand-year Soul Nourishing Wood by offering Spirit Communication Pills and teaching him to refine Dustfall Pills, despite attracting the enmity of Shang Junshu. When Luo Chen returned to the auction, Leng Ruolan revealed a Blood Sword that Han Zhan identified as a Spirit Treasure.

• Luo Chen outbid Qian Ting and Luo Yuqing for Ding Yi’s Soul Nourishing Wood, then faced a competing offer from Shang Junshu of the Four Seas Commerce League.
• Ding Yi met Luo Chen and Shang Junshu, explaining that he wanted to lose weight and strengthen his injured Divine Soul Foundation.
• Luo Chen offered Ding Yi ten bottles of Top-grade Netherworld Pill, satisfying his conditions and securing the Soul Nourishing Wood; Shang Junshu left after threatening Luo Chen.
• Ding Yi asked Luo Chen to teach him how to refine Dustfall Pills, and Luo Chen spent half a day explaining the process.
• Luo Chen returned to the auction and saw Leng Ruolan present a Blood Sword, which Han Zhan recognized as a Spirit Treasure.