Chapter Summaries

Li Chengjie absorbed insights from the Sky Burning Startling Swan Sword Art and other techniques, breaking through to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and Perfected Realm Profound Light Mirror. As he rejoined the gathering, his new strength and confidence replaced his frustration over losing the Profound Yellow Mountain Suppressing Artifact.

• Li Chengjie fused insights from the flame Sword Intent, Sword Intent Tempering Spirit Art, and Flowing Flame Escape, breaking the Profound Light Mirror through to Perfected Realm.
• The Sky Burning Startling Swan Sword Art resonated with the True Sun Fire Art, advancing Li Chengjie to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and strengthening his spiritual energy and understanding of fire and sword.
• Hu Jincheng and the other nearby cultivators noticed Li Chengjie's brief fluctuation in spiritual power but assumed he had merely gained insight.
• Li Chengjie concealed his transformation, reflected on reaching Foundation Establishment Middle Stage at age twenty-four, and resolved to seek more resources and Replication Points.
• Li Chengjie's increased strength and confidence replaced his resentment over losing the Profound Yellow Mountain Suppressing Artifact.

After arriving at the outpost, Li Chengjie was visited by Deng Wanghao, who asked him to take Deng Xintian as a disciple and offered twenty thousand spirit stones. Li Chengjie suspected Deng Wanghao had an ulterior motive and remained unsure why he had chosen him.

• Hu Jincheng assigned patrol, surveillance, and supply-preparation duties before the group settled into the outpost.
• Li Chengjie prepared a quiet stone room to consolidate his cultivation and review information copied from Hu Jincheng.
• Deng Wanghao arrived with his grandson Deng Xintian and praised Li Chengjie for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Deng Wanghao described Deng Xintian's cultivation and asked Li Chengjie to accept him as a disciple, offering twenty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones.
• Li Chengjie considered their strained history and mismatched cultivation specialties, suspecting Deng Wanghao's request concealed another motive.

Li Chengjie refused Deng Wanghao’s offer to make Deng Xintian his disciple, then learned that Deng Wanghao wanted to secure his grandson a place in a possible evacuation if the Flowing Cloud Sect lost its coming battle. The revelation made Li Chengjie confront the danger that Black Cloud Market could become a battlefield and begin planning for his own survival.

• Li Chengjie firmly refused Deng Wanghao’s offer of Twenty Thousand Spirit Stones and explained that their cultivation paths were incompatible.
• Li Chengjie pressed Deng Wanghao to reveal why he was so insistent, and Deng Wanghao sent Deng Xintian aside before raising a stronger Soundproof Barrier.
• Deng Wanghao told Li Chengjie that Ancestor Hu Haihan would fight Meng Fengmo of the Blood Fiend Cult in the Black Cloud Mountain Range in a little over two months.
• Deng Wanghao feared that a defeat could leave Black Cloud Market exposed and low-ranking cultivators stranded or abandoned during a retreat.
• Deng Wanghao revealed that he wanted Deng Xintian to become Li Chengjie’s disciple so Li Chengjie’s status as a Second-tier Low-grade Alchemist might help him evacuate safely.
• Li Chengjie realized that the danger of the battle extended to his own survival if the Flowing Cloud Sect’s front lines collapsed.

Li Chengjie accepted Deng Wanghao’s twenty thousand Spirit Stones but declined to formally take Deng Xintian as a disciple, leaving open the possibility of helping him later. After seeing them off, he stabilized his Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and began integrating the Sky Burning Startling Swan Sword Art and Sword Intent Tempering Spirit Art.

• Li Chengjie accepted Deng Wanghao’s twenty thousand Spirit Stones but said he could not promise to take Deng Xintian as a disciple, offering to help if circumstances allowed.
• Deng Wanghao accepted Li Chengjie’s compromise, and he and Deng Xintian thanked Li Chengjie before leaving.
• Li Chengjie secured his stone chamber and focused on stabilizing his newly reached Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
• Li Chengjie practiced circulating Spiritual Energy through the Sky Burning Startling Swan Sword Art and tempered his divine consciousness with the Sword Intent Tempering Spirit Art.
• Li Chengjie formed a three-inch crimson-gold sword gleam at his fingertip and confirmed that his realm was stable and his control had improved.

Li Chengjie accepted Deng Wanghao’s payment and prepared to strengthen himself as a Golden Core battle loomed over Black Cloud Market. At a gathering called by Qin Mingyu, the disciples pledged to defend the sect, but an emergency summons brought them to the central plaza, where a Golden Core Ancestor appeared as chains clattered at the entrance.

• Li Chengjie accepted twenty thousand Spirit Stones from Deng Wanghao and resolved to help Deng Xintian only if doing so would not endanger him.
• Qin Mingyu gathered Li Chengjie and other disciples at the Mission Hall to coordinate their duties ahead of the battle against the Blood Fiend Cult.
• Deng Wanghao pledged to hold his post and protect the base, avoiding Li Chengjie's gaze as he sat down.
• The Flowing Cloud Sect's urgent bell summoned its disciples, and Qin Mingyu led them toward Black Cloud Market Central Plaza.
• Li Chengjie joined more than ten thousand Righteous Path Alliance cultivators at the plaza, where a Golden Core Ancestor stood with Hu Jincheng, Li Jiahui, Qin Mingyu, and Wei Tong.
• Heavy footsteps and dragging chains sounded from the plaza entrance.

Hu Qingling addressed the Righteous Path Alliance disciples at Black Cloud Market, accused captured cultivators of betrayal, and crushed them before proclaiming victory in the coming battle. Li Chengjie witnessed the Golden Core Ancestor’s overwhelming power as the crowd rallied for war.

• Flowing Cloud Sect Law Enforcement Disciples escorted roughly twenty or thirty bound cultivators into the square, where disciples recognized some of them.
• Hu Qingling accused the captives of planning to flee and colluding with the Demonic Cult, and one prisoner insisted he had only feared the battle’s outcome.
• Hu Qingling crushed all the kneeling cultivators into blood mist with a single press, while Li Chengjie watched in shock.
• Hu Qingling declared that Hu Haihan would defeat Meng Fengmo and urged the Alliance to unite and fight.
• The disciples shouted their support for certain victory and vowed to slaughter the Blood Fiend Cult demons.

Li Chengjie rejected Fan Zhiyong’s plan to petition for a safer posting, reminding him that the sect demanded obedience during wartime. When Black Cloud Market announced who would remain behind, both men were assigned to stay, and Fan Zhiyong theatrically claimed he had wanted to go to the front lines.

• Fan Zhiyong visited Li Chengjie and asked him to join a petition seeking reassignment to safer duties at the sect.
• Li Chengjie warned Fan Zhiyong that requesting reassignment before the decisive battle would defy Ancestor Hu Qingling’s orders and advised him to earn merit at his post.
• Five days before the battle between Ancestor Hu Haihan and Meng Fengmo, a steward announced that Li Chengjie, Fan Zhiyong, and other specialists had to remain in Black Cloud Market.
• Cultivators in the crowd resented that Alchemists and Formation Masters were exempted from going to the front lines.
• Fan Zhiyong loudly pretended he had wanted to observe the Golden Core Battle and fight the Blood Fiend Cult, lamenting that the sect had ordered him to maintain the marketplace’s Defense Formation.

Li Chengjie took Deng Xintian on as his alchemy assistant and spent four days digesting Hu Jincheng’s cultivation experience while preparing for the coming Golden Core Battle. He reached the peak of Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, with five days remaining before the battle.

• Deng Xintian asked Li Chengjie to let him work in the workshop, and Li Chengjie officially assigned him as an assistant in his B-grade Alchemy Room.
• Li Chengjie warned Deng Xintian to follow workshop rules and had him sort Crimson Flame Grass while he began cultivating.
• Li Chengjie used the Profound Light Mirror to focus and applied Hu Jincheng’s insights to refine his Sky Burning Startling Swan Sword Art.
• Over four days, Li Chengjie stabilized his realm, transformed his Spiritual Energy, and raised his cultivation to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Peak.
• Li Chengjie checked his System Panel and saw his improved cultivation and sword art progress, with 2600 replication points available.

After five days of alchemy and cultivation, Li Chengjie watched the Flowing Cloud Sect assemble a vast expeditionary force at Black Cloud Market. Ancestor Hu Haihan ordered the army to depart, and the Foundation Establishment cultivators surged into the sky behind the Golden Core Ancestors.

• Li Chengjie left the alchemy room after stabilizing his cultivation, and Deng Xintian took the final batch of Qi Replenishing Pills to the Pill Repository.
• Li Chengjie joined the remaining cultivators on a viewing platform and watched Hu Haihan and four other Golden Core Ancestors rise above the central square.
• Over two thousand five hundred cultivators assembled for the campaign, including Wu Jiaxing, Deng Wanghao, and other familiar Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Hu Haihan declared that the expedition would slay demons and defend the Dao, then ordered the force to depart.
• The Foundation Establishment cultivators took flight behind the five Golden Core Ancestors.

As the Flowing Cloud Sect’s forces fought the Blood Fiend Cult, Black Cloud Market grew increasingly tense despite official reassurances. Li Chengjie recognized signs that the marketplace’s defenses were being reinforced, urged others to stay calm, and waited through the night for news from the front lines.

• Li Chengjie returned to the Alchemy Room and told Deng Xintian to prepare medicinal ingredients while he monitored the marketplace with his Profound Light Mirror.
• At noon, Ancestor Hu Qingling announced that Ancestor Hu Haihan’s forces had entered battle and ordered everyone in Black Cloud Market to keep working and avoid spreading rumors.
• Fan Zhiyong told Li Chengjie that the Nine Palaces Flowing Cloud Great Formation was consuming more energy and strengthening its defenses, then asked about stockpiling pills and finding escape routes.
• Li Chengjie advised Fan Zhiyong not to act rashly and told Deng Xintian to continue working, privately concluding that the battle might be going badly.
• After a day passed without reliable news from the front lines, Li Chengjie watched the silent, anxious marketplace while holding a newly refined Qi Replenishing Pill.

After two days of rising tension, five battered Flowing Cloud Sect Golden Core cultivators fled back to Black Cloud Market with five Blood Fiend Cult Golden Core cultivators on their heels. The market’s formation came under attack, and Li Chengjie and the others were left fearing that the Foundation Establishment cultivators and Qi Refining disciples who had departed were dead.

• Li Chengjie prepared for danger while the market’s formation readings worsened and Golden Core cultivators made moves behind the scenes.
• Five battered Golden Core cultivators led by Hu Haihan returned to Black Cloud Market, pursued by Meng Fengmo and four other Blood Fiend Cult cultivators.
• Hu Qingling ordered a formation passage opened, and the five Flowing Cloud Sect cultivators entered just before a demonic attack struck the barrier.
• Meng Fengmo claimed the Flowing Cloud Sect’s disciples had perished in Burial Demon Valley and launched more attacks against the market formation.
• The cultivators in Black Cloud Market panicked, while Deng Xintian feared for his grandfather and Li Chengjie judged that most of the departed disciples had likely been sacrificed during the retreat.

The Blood Fiend Cult’s five Golden Core cultivators battered Black Cloud Market’s formation while Li Chengjie prepared for the worst. The cult’s main force arrived and surrounded the marketplace, and Meng Fengmo revealed a strange talisman as the formation neared collapse.

• Hu Qingling ordered the cultivators at the formation nodes to pour in spiritual power as the five demonic Golden Cores intensified their assault.
• Li Chengjie organized his supplies and watched the formation weaken while Fan Zhiyong struggled to support the Li Fire Position Node.
• The Blood Fiend Cult’s main force arrived from the Black Cloud Mountain Range, bringing hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators and thousands of Qi Refining cultivators.
• The demonic army surrounded Black Cloud Market and prepared to exploit the formation’s weaknesses, plunging the marketplace’s defenders into despair.
• Fan Zhiyong broke down, Deng Xintian hid in the storeroom, and Li Chengjie focused on Meng Fengmo as he produced a strange talisman.

Meng Fengmo used a top-grade third-grade Formation Breaking Talisman to shatter the Nine Palaces Flowing Cloud Great Formation and open a massive breach in Black Cloud Market. As Blood Fiend Cult cultivators charged in, five crimson sword lights burst from the Marketplace to counterattack the five Golden Cores, leaving Li Chengjie poised to exploit the chaos.

• Meng Fengmo revealed a top-grade third-grade Formation Breaking Talisman and unleashed it against the Nine Palaces Flowing Cloud Great Formation.
• The talisman’s purple blade shattered the formation barrier and opened a breach more than a hundred feet wide above Black Cloud Market.
• Meng Fengmo ordered the Blood Fiend Cult cultivators to invade, and Foundation Establishment Demonic Cultivators rushed toward the breach as the Marketplace descended into panic.
• Li Chengjie prepared his escape talismans and Flowing Flame Escape, watching for a chance to act amid the chaos.
• Five crimson sword lights shot through the breach from the Marketplace and targeted the five Blood Fiend Cult Golden Cores, with attacks aimed at Meng Fengmo, Li Wuhun, and Tu Hongjin.

Hu Guangjian appeared at Black Cloud Market and killed Li Wuhun and Tu Hongjin with five crimson flying swords, halting the Blood Fiend Cult’s advance. Meng Fengmo recognized him as a supposedly dead peak Golden Core cultivator, leaving both sides stunned by his return.

• Meng Fengmo, Li Wuhun, and Tu Hongjin tried to defend themselves as five crimson sword lights struck their positions.
• Hu Guangjian’s sword lights pierced Li Wuhun’s defenses and incinerated him, destroying his body and soul.
• A second sword light cleaved Tu Hongjin’s battle axe and armor, then burned through his body and soul.
• The battlefield fell silent as the surviving cultivators realized two mid Golden Core Demonic Cultivators had been killed in an instant.
• Hu Guangjian appeared at the breach and recalled the five swords into his sleeves.
• Meng Fengmo recognized Hu Guangjian, the peak Golden Core cultivator believed to be dead, and reacted with shock and wariness.

Hu Guangjian confronted Blood Fiend Cult Ancestors Meng Fengmo and Meng Yaofan, revealing five powerful fire swords and challenging their advance. Meng Yaofan answered with his Lifebound Magic Treasure, the Dao Devouring Compass, setting the stage for a clash.

• Li Chengjie recognized the ancient, powerful Flame Power in Hu Guangjian's five crimson sword lights.
• Meng Yaofan arrived and taunted Hu Guangjian, while the two peak Golden Core Ancestors' auras clashed above the battlefield.
• Hu Guangjian revealed five phantom fire swords and warned Meng Yaofan that they were enough to deal with the Blood Fiend Cult's younger cultivators.
• Meng Yaofan summoned the Dao Devouring Compass, his Lifebound Magic Treasure, and claimed it could diminish Hu Guangjian's fire swords.

Meng Yaofan and Meng Fengmo faced Hu Guangjian, whose dwindling lifespan made the outcome seem uncertain, but Hu Guangjian unleashed the Five Directions Burning Heaven Sword Array. Meng Yaofan used the Dao Devouring Compass to resist the array’s assault, and the clash continued with him wounded but still holding on.

• Meng Yaofan used the Dao Devouring Compass to absorb Hu Guangjian’s sword intent, then challenged him over his nearly exhausted lifespan.
• Hu Guangjian admitted that he had little time left and warned that he would take his enemies down with him before he died.
• Hu Guangjian formed the Five Directions Burning Heaven Sword Array around Meng Yaofan and Meng Fengmo.
• Meng Yaofan sacrificed Essence Blood to amplify the Dao Devouring Compass, creating a black hole that drained power from the sword array.
• Hu Guangjian attacked with the Li Fire Sword, Gen Mountain Sword, Swift Wind Sword, and Shocking Thunder Sword, forcing Meng Yaofan to defend as the compass began to falter.
• Meng Yaofan was wounded but kept the black hole intact and warned Hu Guangjian that the battle would weaken him as it dragged on.

Hu Guangjian burned his Essence Blood to unleash the Five Directions Burning Heaven Sword Array’s ultimate attack, forcing Meng Yaofan to retreat and saving Black Cloud Market. Hu Guangjian survived the battle but collapsed as his five swords carried him down toward the Marketplace.

• Meng Yaofan used the Dao Devouring Compass to suppress two of Hu Guangjian’s swords and taunted him as the battle stalled.
• Hu Guangjian burned his Essence Blood and merged the five swords into a Crimson Gold Greatsword.
• Meng Yaofan used the Dao Devouring Compass to resist Hu Guangjian’s attack, while Meng Fengmo burned his Essence Blood and shielded him with the blood banner.
• The explosion devastated the Blood Fiend Cult army and damaged Black Cloud Market, leaving Meng Yaofan and Meng Fengmo gravely wounded.
• Meng Yaofan fled with Meng Fengmo, abandoning the remaining Blood Fiend Cult forces.
• Hu Guangjian collapsed after looking over Black Cloud Market, and his five sword shadows supported him as he descended.

After Hu Guangjian’s sacrifice left Meng Yaofan and Meng Fengmo gravely injured, the Flowing Cloud Sect’s Golden Core cultivators pursued them. Li Chengjie seized the chaos to kill a wounded Blood Fiend Cult cultivator and take his Storage Bag, then spotted more loot among the battlefield’s corpses.

• Hu Haihan, Li Qingping, Zhao Changpeng, Hu Changzheng, and An Mingyuan pursued the fleeing Meng Yaofan while Hu Qingling went to support the descending Hu Guangjian.
• Li Chengjie flew into the scattered Blood Fiend Cult forces and targeted a gravely wounded Foundation Establishment peak cultivator.
• Li Chengjie killed the blood-robed cultivator with the Azure Flame Ice Soul Sword and took his Storage Bag.
• Li Chengjie spotted three Blood Fiend Cult Foundation Establishment Deacons’ corpses with intact Storage Bags near the explosion site.

Li Chengjie seized Storage Bags from fallen Blood Fiend Cult cultivators during the battle, then drew Ancestor Hu Qingling’s scrutiny. Hu Qingling judged him a promising disciple and considered giving him further opportunities, while Li Chengjie left Black Cloud Market unsure what the Ancestor thought of him.

• Li Chengjie killed a wounded Blood Fiend Cult cultivator and swiftly took Storage Bags from three dead Foundation Establishment cultivators and several Qi Refining cultivators.
• Ancestor Hu Qingling’s divine sense noticed Li Chengjie’s spoils, making him fear he might be punished for looting the battlefield.
• Hu Qingling tended to the unconscious Hu Guangjian and assessed Li Chengjie’s speed, decisiveness, and potential as a sword cultivator and possible Alchemist.
• Hu Qingling approved of Li Chengjie’s efforts to claim resources and considered meeting him after order returned to Black Cloud Market.
• Li Chengjie left Black Cloud Market with the Storage Bags, still uncertain whether Hu Qingling’s attention meant approval or trouble.

After Hu Guangjian died, Hu Qingling ordered an immediate strike against the Blood Fiend Cult's Ten Thousand Skeletons Mountain lair. Li Chengjie weighed the dangers of joining the assault but ultimately followed the pursuing force north.

• Hu Guangjian awakened briefly, urged Hu Qingling to kill Meng Yaofan before he recovered, and then died.
• Hu Qingling accepted his great-grandfather's command and summoned the Flowing Cloud Sect's remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Li Chengjie pursued scattered Blood Fiend Cult remnants while guarding the Storage Bags he had taken and considering leaving Black Cloud Market.
• Hu Qingling ordered the Righteous Path Alliance to follow him north and attack Ten Thousand Skeletons Mountain without returning to the Marketplace.
• Hu Qingling flew ahead with five other Golden Core Stage Cultivators, and Li Chengjie decided to follow the force in hopes of avoiding suspicion and gaining rewards.