Chapter Summaries

Tu Shan Jun discovered the source of the Baleful Intent and trapped a giant fish-headed bird with his new divine ability, while the vortex exit reopened. In Eastern Sea City, True Lord Taiyi sought an alliance with the dragon clan but left without securing one.

• Tu Shan Jun sent the devil to search for high-level yin spirits and learned that the vortex exit had reopened when a giant bird emerged from the Baleful Intent.
• Tu Shan Jun used the Ten Directions Ghost Kings Slaughter Array and Shoreless Return to the Ruins to capture the giant bird inside the Soul Banner.
• The devil waited beside the vortex exit, unsure whether it would remain open, while Tu Shan Jun stayed within the Soul Banner.
• True Lord Taiyi brought Qian Fei to Eastern Sea City and visited Ao Zhan to propose supplying the dragon clan with pills and artifacts.
• Ao Zhan invited True Lord Taiyi and his martial brother to join the Eastern Sea, but True Lord Taiyi declined and left without an alliance.

True Lord Taiyi tried to secure allies for the Taiyi Sect before the Xingluo Sea Sect Council, but the major factions offered little support. At the council venue, he learned that his sect’s ranking and territory were at risk because his Junior Brother was absent, and an Artifact Alliance cultivator challenged his decision to attend with only an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

• True Lord Taiyi approached several factions for support, but most declined or offered no meaningful help, so he decided to follow the rules of the Xingluo Sea.
• True Lord Taiyi stayed at the inn repairing his puppet while Qian Fei described the grand arrivals and the ridicule he had faced in Eastsea City.
• True Lord Taiyi and Qian Fei entered the Sect Council venue, where True Lord Taiyi declined Gu Yuan’s invitation to join a wager.
• True Lord Golden Ao asked whether True Lord Taiyi’s Junior Brother had come, then warned that the Taiyi Sect’s incomplete combat strength could lower its ranking and cost it territory and resources.
• A red-robed Artifact Alliance cultivator criticized True Lord Taiyi for sending only an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator and left in anger.

True Lord Taiyi agreed to prove Taiyi Sect’s legitimacy by accepting challenges at the Star Luo Grand Sect Assembly. As True Lord Fire Refining stepped onto the dueling ground to face him, True Lord Golden Roc and True Lord Golden Feather discussed preventing Taiyi Sect from settling near a ruin in the Sea of Wandering Souls.

• True Lord Taiyi learned that Taiyi Sect ranked ninth and worried that he might have to fight to secure the sect’s standing.
• The assembly announced that True Lord Taiyi had to win more than half of the challenges for Taiyi Sect to gain orthodox status and expand its territory; he accepted.
• Qian Fei worried that his master would lose, then was relieved that True Lord Taiyi himself would take the field.
• True Lord Golden Turtle told the other Nascent Soul cultivators that True Lord Taiyi was not especially strong, while they speculated about his chances and place of settlement.
• True Lord Fire Refining of the Artifact Alliance challenged True Lord Taiyi on the dueling ground.
• True Lord Golden Feather explained his interest in True Lord Taiyi to True Lord Golden Roc, who said Taiyi Sect should be kept away from the ruin in the Sea of Wandering Souls.

True Lord Taiyi defeated True Lord Fire Refinement and Li Tianshui in succession, demonstrating the Taiyi Sect’s strength before the assembled factions. He then faced True Lord Golden Roc, who offered him a mountain gate if he conceded, but Taiyi refused and accepted the challenge.

• True Lord Taiyi severed True Lord Fire Refinement’s flames with a single strike, and the Artifact Alliance conceded the match.
• Li Tianshui of the Kun Yun Sect challenged True Lord Taiyi, but Taiyi’s spirit treasures overwhelmed him and forced him to concede.
• The Pill Alliance declined to challenge Taiyi, while the assembled Nascent Soul cultivators debated his background and strength.
• True Lord Golden Roc entered the arena and offered Taiyi a mountain gate spanning two hundred thousand li if he conceded.
• True Lord Taiyi refused the offer, and True Lord Golden Roc agreed to count the battle as Taiyi’s victory if he endured for one quarter of an hour.

Tu Shan Jun emerged from seclusion as a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator and arrived at the arena where True Lord Golden Roc was overpowering True Lord Taiyi. After treating his injured Senior Brother, Tu Shan Jun challenged the assembled cultivators to face him together.

• Tu Shan Jun left the soul banner, learned that the others had gone to East Sea City, and hurried to the arena.
• True Lord Golden Roc used his late-stage Nascent Soul cultivation to batter True Lord Taiyi while the restricted arena limited Taiyi’s abilities.
• Qian Fei tried to stop the fight, but Tu Shan Jun appeared and told him he would take over.
• Tu Shan Jun announced himself as True Lord Taishi, treated True Lord Taiyi with pills, and claimed the match in his Senior Brother’s place.
• Tu Shan Jun planted the Soul Banner in the arena and challenged anyone who objected to fight him together.

Tu Shan Jun defeated True Lord Golden Roc in the arena, securing the Heavenly Roc Sect’s promise to stop disputing the Taiyi Sect’s choice of territory. He then challenged the Nascent Soul cultivators to come at him together, hoping to settle the conflict before successive battles exhausted him.

• True Lord Golden Roc challenged Tu Shan Jun to a duel, while True Lord Taiyi warned Tu Shan Jun not to kill him.
• Tu Shan Jun used the Soul Banner as a spiked hammer and overwhelmed True Lord Golden Roc in close combat.
• Tu Shan Jun swept True Lord Golden Roc off the arena, and Golden Roc conceded that the Heavenly Roc Sect would no longer dispute the Taiyi Sect’s choice.
• True Lord Golden Roc blamed Kun Yun for the setback, while a Kun Yun Sect representative said the remaining factions would have to act.
• Tu Shan Jun judged that repeated fights would drain his mana and challenged the Nascent Soul cultivators to face him together.

Tu Shan Jun defeated the Nascent Soul challengers and secured the Taiyi Sect’s acceptance into the Star Luo Sea. After the conference moved on to competitions over Yuan Yang Domain keys and resources, True Lord Taiyi prepared Qian Fei to participate, while Tu Shan Jun wondered if the demon could fight in his place.

• Seven Nascent Soul True Lords entered the arena, and Tu Shan Jun transformed into the Ghost King and knocked four opponents out in one exchange.
• Tu Shan Jun fought Ao Zhan and sent him off the arena, then punched True Lord Yincha off after resisting her seductive arts.
• The Flood Dragon Clan welcomed the Taiyi Sect into the Star Luo Sea and began the century sect conference’s resource-allocation proceedings.
• True Lord Taiyi explained that ten disciples from each faction would compete for Yuan Yang Domain keys and disputed resources, then told Qian Fei to participate.
• Tu Shan Jun summoned the demon and asked whether it could fight in Qian Fei’s place, just as someone knocked at the private-room door.

After Taiyi Sect established its reputation in the arena, Tu Shan Jun met with neighboring and visiting factions seeking alliances, investments, and permission to build market cities in Qianyuan. True Lord Taiyi returned from the Grand Sect Council and took over negotiations as the crowd pressed Taiyi Sect with competing proposals.

• Li Tianshui invited True Lord Taiyi to the Grand Sect Council, while Tu Shan Jun declined to attend and sent Qian Fei to register for the competition.
• True Lord Golden Ao proposed an alliance with Taiyi Sect and told Tu Shan Jun that rival sects were contesting an ancient ruin beneath the Sea of Wandering Souls.
• True Lord Yincha asked Tu Shan Jun for permission to invest in a market city at Pengyuan on behalf of Hehuan Sect.
• Duoluo Qiu proposed that the Beast Taming Sect buy desolate beasts uncovered during reclamation and build a transfer market city in Pengyuan.
• Representatives from the Ancient Immortal Tower, the Pill Alliance, the Artifact Alliance, and other factions crowded Tu Shan Jun's room to compete for permission to establish markets in Qianyuan.
• True Lord Taiyi returned, and Tu Shan Jun handed the gathered factions' negotiations over to him.

After Taiyi Sect’s victory in Eastsea City, True Lord Taiyi and Tu Shan Jun returned to Qianyuan and began organizing the sect’s growth. The sect prepared to accept disciples, develop its lands, and provide cultivation resources, while Tu Shan Jun began work on a large batch of Foundation Establishment Pills.

• True Lord Taiyi told Tu Shan Jun that the grand sect council had arranged shared marketplaces and transit routes in Qianyuan, while Taiyi Sect would send troops if the Qianping Domain came calling.
• True Lord Taiyi, Tu Shan Jun, and Qian Fei left Eastsea City before the two-month council ended and returned to Taiyi Sect in Qianyuan.
• True Lord Taiyi announced the sect’s victory to the gathered disciples, then assigned plans for an Ascension Assembly, mortal settlement, marketplaces, sect resources, and cultivation instruction.
• True Lord Taiyi appointed Qian Fei to guide Foundation Establishment disciples and ordered Tu Shan Jun to refine one hundred Foundation Establishment Pills for Qi Refinement disciples.
• Tu Shan Jun examined the fifth-tier pill furnace at Dan Peak and remarked on its ability to refine high-tier pills.

Qiu Wandao learned that the Taiyi Sect would prepare Foundation Establishment Pills and spent his fortune gathering Spirit Stones, while Tu Shan Jun refined pills and began developing the sect’s facilities. The chapter ended with the sect announcing that disciples at the great perfection of Qi Refinement could buy a Foundation Establishment Pill using Spirit Stones and borrowed merit points.

• Qiu Wandao overheard Zhang Qingrong say the ancestor planned to prepare Foundation Establishment Pills for disciples at the great perfection of Qi Refinement.
• Qiu Wandao exchanged his low-grade talismans for Spirit Stones despite Li Baolu warning him not to gamble his fortune on the pills.
• Tu Shan Jun refined ten furnaces of Foundation Establishment Pills, producing one hundred and thirty-five pills for True Lord Taiyi.
• Tu Shan Jun used Red-Turbaned Mighty Ones and formations to create a medicinal garden on Pill Peak.
• Xu Zhao announced that disciples at the great perfection of Qi Refinement could purchase a Foundation Establishment Pill for one thousand Spirit Stones and three thousand merit points, which they could borrow and repay later.
• Qiu Wandao excitedly welcomed the announcement as the Qi Refinement disciples erupted in the lecture hall.

Xu Zhao distributed Foundation Establishment Pills to the sect’s Qi Refinement disciples, while Qiu Wandao spent his fortune to buy an extra pill and prepared to attempt a breakthrough. Tu Shan Jun rejected using disciples’ souls to strengthen his Soul Banner, but a sudden spiritual-energy vortex sent him rushing toward Spirit Officer Hall to investigate a failed breakthrough.

• Xu Zhao distributed pills to sixty-one peak Qi Refinement disciples, and Qiu Wandao bought a second pill despite taking on a debt of six thousand merit points.
• True Lord Taiyi assigned Xu Zhao responsibility for rebuilding the sect’s palace halls and postponed dealing with forces that refused to relocate.
• Tu Shan Jun considered using disciples’ souls in his Soul Banner but rejected the idea and decided to continue obtaining ranked souls through exchanges.
• Tu Shan Jun felt a spiritual-energy vortex erupt near Spirit Officer Hall and hurried there to see whether someone had failed a breakthrough.

After Qiu Wandao received mysterious guidance and successfully established his foundation, True Lord Taiyi accepted him as a disciple and promised to solve his hidden spiritual root. Tu Shan Jun also investigated the ancient writing on his blood-jade gourd with True Lord Taiyi, but its origin remained unknown.

• True Lord Taiyi lamented the death of a disciple who had failed to break through to Foundation Establishment, while Tu Shan Jun struggled to understand his concern.
• Qiu Wandao saw the gruesome remains of Senior Brother Fei and returned to his cave dwelling, where a mysterious voice advised him to use two Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Tu Shan Jun showed True Lord Taiyi the blood-jade gourd's strange writing, and they speculated that the Soul Banner had let Tu Shan Jun understand part of it after absorbing its characteristics.
• After twenty-one days of closed-door cultivation with two pills, Qiu Wandao emerged having established his foundation and was summoned to meet the Patriarch.
• True Lord Taiyi offered to take Qiu Wandao as his disciple, then reassured him that he had a secret method to resolve Qiu Wandao's hidden spiritual root.

Three years after the Taiyi Sect’s rise, Tu Shan Jun studied how to develop the sect without provoking conflict and continued refining his own Dao Path. As the Ascension Convention approached, he taught Zhou Xinglie, then realized his cultivation outline still needed two more principles.

• Hunchback Guo took his grandson Xiao Yi by ox cart toward the Taiyi Sect’s Ascension Convention, encouraging him to become a disciple and escape poverty.
• Cloudview City and the Taiyi Sect prospered, while subordinate factions accepted the sect’s selection of twenty percent of the talented individuals from their territories.
• Tu Shan Jun rejected a plan for mass puppet production because it could devastate the livelihoods of low-level cultivators and provoke war, then burned his written dossier and cultivation insights.
• Tu Shan Jun questioned Zhou Xinglie about his cultivation, magical artifact, and pill refining, then explained that knowledge and action strengthened the heart and body in a cycle.
• After Zhou Xinglie left, Tu Shan Jun reflected that his Dao Path remained incomplete and observed that his Demon Ape True Intent changed as his comprehension deepened.

Lord Wang and Bai Feicheng arranged to infiltrate the Taiyi Sect’s Ascension Assembly, while Sikong Xingye formed the Five Elements Alliance among Pengyuan’s Golden Core forces. The assembly began at the Taiyi Sect, where cultivators gathered to seek entry.

• Lord Wang assigned Bai Feicheng to serve as the contact in Cloudview City and gave him a storage pouch for their covert plan to place agents in the Taiyi Sect.
• Sikong Xingye and the Pill Cauldron Sect ancestor met with Golden Core masters, who agreed to leave Pengyuan for Kunshi and form an alliance.
• Sikong Xingye became the Five Elements Alliance leader, while the Pill Cauldron Sect ancestor agreed to join in exchange for a promised Nascent Soul Fruit.
• Cultivators arrived at the Taiyi Sect for its Ascension Assembly, where more than twenty Attendants and several Golden Core masters gathered.
• A barefoot figure in a white jade crown announced that the Ascension Assembly had begun.

True Lord Taiyi brought Tu Shan Jun to the Taiyi Sect’s first Ascension Assembly, where children were tested for Spirit Roots. The tests revealed a qualified Three Spirit Root, a metal-fire Dual Spirit Root whose bearer asked the sect to admit his sister, and finally a Water Heavenly Spirit Root.

• True Lord Taiyi asked Tu Shan Jun to take part in the assembly, and Tu Shan Jun reflected on the sect’s growth and agreed that they should do what they could.
• Shen Yufeng discovered that Gao Dabao’s recorded Four Spirit Root tested as Five Spirit Root, while Gao Dabao’s father worried that a cheating pill had failed.
• Guo Yi tested as a qualified Three Spirit Root, and Old Hunchback Guo anxiously awaited his grandson’s entrance trial.
• Yu Long tested as a metal-fire Dual Spirit Root and asked the Taiyi Sect to give his Five Spirit Root younger sister an opportunity; Xu Zhao approved the request.
• A Foundation Establishment cultivator announced that another child had a Water Heavenly Spirit Root, drawing the crowd’s attention.

The Taiyi Sect concluded its spirit-root tests and opened a secret-realm trial for prospective disciples, including children whose Five Spirit Roots would otherwise disqualify them. The first trial began with over a thousand children facing an immense mountain, where only the first ten to reach the summit would be accepted.

• Wu Daoxian revealed a Heavenly Water Spirit Root, and Xu Zhao consulted True Lord Taiyi, who dismissed the discovery as no cause for concern.
• Tu Shan Jun assured True Lord Taiyi that his Heart-Questioning Formation could expose spies and asked his devil how long it needed before facing its Nascent Soul lightning tribulation.
• After five days of testing, Xu Zhao announced that the Taiyi Sect would accept children with Four Spirit Roots or better and offer Five Spirit Root children a chance through a secret-realm trial.
• Xu Zhao sent the selected participants into the secret realm, and Yu Long entered first, followed by the others.
• The Five Spirit Root children found themselves before a towering mountain and heard that only the first ten to reach its summit would join the sect.

Taiyi Sect’s elders watched the children climb a mountain in a secret-realm trial while discussing potential disciples and wagering on the results. Tu Shan Jun predicted Wu Daoxian would reach the summit first, while True Lord Taiyi favored Yu Long after observing the children’s qi.

• Zhang Dezhi worried that the mountain trial would be too difficult for the children, and Qian Fei reassured him that the Sect Master and Grand Supreme Elder had their reasons.
• True Lord Taiyi urged Tu Shan Jun to choose a promising child as a disciple, but Tu Shan Jun declined to leave a legacy and offered to serve as an elder of transmission instead.
• Wu Daoxian began climbing alone, while Shui Lianqing invited Yu Long to climb with her; Yu Long felt ashamed of his poverty and ran off toward the mountain.
• The Golden Core grandmasters discussed and wagered on which children would place highest, noting Wu Daoxian’s Heavenly Spirit Root and Yu Long’s strong performance.
• Tu Shan Jun predicted Wu Daoxian would reach the summit first because of his resolve, while True Lord Taiyi favored Yu Long based on his blazing red qi and observed mixed qi around Wu Daoxian.

True Lord Golden Ao warned True Lord Taiyi and Tu Shan Jun that the Flood Dragon Clan was struggling against Qianping Domain and that neighboring domains were stirring, prompting them to consider seeking intelligence from the Ancient Immortal Tower. Meanwhile, the Taiyi Sect’s entrance test revealed that Wu Daoxian had an Absolute Yin Body and another child was a spy, whose exposure True Lord Taiyi chose to handle cautiously.

• True Lord Golden Ao arrived at the Taiyi Sect, warned True Lord Taiyi and Tu Shan Jun about the worsening conflict, and asked Taiyi to build a puppet-training secret realm for Golden Ao Palace.
• Tu Shan Jun suspected the great domains were acting with unusual urgency, and he proposed asking the Ancient Immortal Tower for intelligence.
• Wu Daoxian reached the summit of the secret realm’s trial and answered the faceless examiner’s questions.
• Tu Shan Jun and True Lord Taiyi discovered that Wu Daoxian had an Absolute Yin Body that threatened his lifespan, and they considered helping him overcome it.
• A twelve-year-old disciple admitted he was a spy, and True Lord Taiyi stopped Tu Shan Jun from searching the child’s soul, choosing instead to keep him as a potential bargaining chip.

After the Ascension Assembly, Xu Zhao and Zhang Dezi maneuvered for the future position of administrative sect master while Jing Xiu avoided taking sides. Meanwhile, Wang Zhi joined Taiyi Sect and went to contact his spy superior, where his altered memories were exposed and an unknown voice revealed itself.

• Xu Zhao and Zhang Dezi privately assessed each other as rivals for the administrative sect master position, while Jing Xiu declined to ally himself with either.
• Xu Zhao offered Jing Xiu an exotic treasure, but Jing Xiu postponed their discussion because he needed to report a spirit mineral vein to the patriarch.
• Zhang Dezi questioned Zhou Xinglie about the sect's plans for spies, but Zhou Xinglie said his master had not told him anything.
• Half a month after joining Taiyi Sect, Wang Zhi traveled to Cloudview City to contact his superior at a coffin shop.
• The coffin shopkeeper confronted Wang Zhi for arriving half a year early, and an unseen speaker admitted to altering Wang Zhi's memories.
• Wang Zhi remembered failing Taiyi Sect's test, and the terrified shopkeeper realized someone had changed the Foundation Establishment cultivator's memories.

Tu Shan Jun reported the hidden agents in Cloudview City and revealed that he had bound them with a new mind-controlling art, prompting True Lord Taiyi to warn him against using such methods. Their argument was interrupted by a scripture scroll from the Ancient Immortal Tower, whose contents surprised True Lord Taiyi.

• Tu Shan Jun secretly bound Wang Zhi and the coffin-shop keeper with black-red threads, making them unaware of the hidden control.
• Tu Shan Jun explained to his devil that his new art could turn those bound by it into unaware puppets.
• Tu Shan Jun told True Lord Taiyi that the three agents served the Five Elements Alliance, the Mountain Seat Chamber of Commerce, and the flood dragon clan.
• True Lord Taiyi criticized Tu Shan Jun for using methods that manipulated people’s minds, and Tu Shan Jun angrily denied using arts that ate people.
• Qian Fei delivered a scripture scroll from the Ancient Immortal Tower, and True Lord Taiyi read it and tossed the jade slip to Tu Shan Jun in surprise.