Chapter Summaries

Tang Tan and Jin Guanghua visited Li Chengjie to convey Jin Leiwei’s request that he look after the Jin Family disciples assigned to Black Cloud Market. Li Chengjie agreed to help with ordinary matters and coordinate with Jin Guanghua over difficult issues.

• Li Chengjie received Tang Tan and Jin Guanghua at his courtyard after discovering they had requested entry.
• Tang Tan introduced Jin Guanghua as a Jin Family leader assigned to handle affairs and support defenses at Black Cloud Market.
• Jin Guanghua praised Li Chengjie and asked to establish a connection, citing Jin Leiwei’s regard for him.
• Tang Tan explained that Jin Leiwei wanted Li Chengjie to care for the Jin Family disciples while enforcing sect and marketplace rules if they misbehaved.
• Li Chengjie agreed to assist the Jin Family and discuss difficult matters with Jin Guanghua, who gave him a Communication Jade Talisman.

After Jin Guanghua left, Tang Tan told Li Chengjie about developments in the sect and revealed that she feared being trapped at Black Cloud Market. She pleaded for a position under his protection in his Alchemy Room, leaving Li Chengjie to answer her request.

• Jin Guanghua exchanged communication talisman imprints with Li Chengjie, sought his advice, and left after thanking him.
• Tang Tan relaxed after Jin Guanghua departed and told Li Chengjie that Master had reached Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
• Tang Tan reported that Wang had become a Second-tier Low-grade Alchemist and that Lin Zixue had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment.
• Tang Tan explained that she feared she could not leave Black Cloud Market without special permission or major merits.
• Tang Tan asked Li Chengjie to let her work as his alchemy apprentice or handle miscellaneous affairs in his Alchemy Room.

Li Chengjie took Tang Tan in as his assistant, giving her a place to stay and a role helping with alchemy in Black Cloud Market. After more than half a month of quiet, five Golden Core cultivators gathered above the marketplace, leaving Li Chengjie relieved that the sect's powerful cultivators had recovered but everyone wondering what they planned to do.

• Tang Tan pleaded with Li Chengjie to let her stay, promising to help with alchemy and keep his affairs secret.
• Li Chengjie accepted Tang Tan as his assistant and told her to register her residency under his name and inform Jin Guanghua.
• Tang Tan settled into Li Chengjie's courtyard and carefully helped organize his pill room and medicine storehouse.
• Five Golden Core cultivators appeared above Black Cloud Market, alarming the residents and drawing them out to identify the gathering figures.
• Li Chengjie recognized the Golden Core Ancestors and Grand Elders, felt relieved, and watched as cultivators speculated about their plans.

Hu Haihan and four Golden Core cultivators arrived at Black Cloud Market, declared that the Flowing Cloud Sect would hold its ground against the Blood Fiend Cult, and ordered all Foundation Establishment cultivators to gather at the Core Hall. Li Chengjie joined the gathering and used his system to scan Zhao Changpeng, but received an Earth Attribute Mismatch warning.

• Hu Haihan arrived above Black Cloud Market with Hu Qingling, Zhao Changpeng, Li Qingping, and Hu Qingshan, and announced that the Flowing Cloud Sect would not abandon the market.
• The five Golden Core cultivators strengthened the market's Defense Formation and swept the area with their divine senses before descending into the Core Hall.
• Hu Haihan ordered all Foundation Establishment cultivators to gather at the Core Hall before noon, prompting Li Chengjie to prepare and leave Tang Tan to guard his courtyard.
• Li Chengjie joined more than a hundred cultivators in the square and used his system to scan Zhao Changpeng.
• The system listed Zhao Changpeng's earth-element techniques and cultivation experience, then warned Li Chengjie of an Earth Attribute Mismatch.

Li Chengjie used the system to replicate Hu Qingshan’s Golden Core fire inheritance, gaining powerful cultivation methods, combat abilities, and insights into fire. The replication released a trace of True Fire that drew the attention of all five Golden Core Ancestors.

• Li Chengjie inspected the replicable sword inheritance of Li Qingping, then examined Hu Qingshan’s Golden Core fire techniques and cultivation insights.
• Li Chengjie recharged 5,000 Replication Points and confirmed replication of all replicable content from Hu Qingshan.
• Li Chengjie absorbed the Flowing Cloud True Fire Art, Crimson Refinement True Gang, Fire Cloud Escape, Heart Burning Seal, and Hu clan body-tempering and Golden Core insights.
• The fire inheritance resonated with Li Chengjie’s existing cultivation methods, improving his spiritual power’s purity, vitality, and control while stabilizing his inner barrier.
• A trace of True Fire escaped Li Chengjie’s concealment, and the five Golden Core Ancestors turned their attention toward him.

Li Chengjie spent three days absorbing Hu Qingshan’s copied experience while Flowing Cloud Sect prepared for a decisive assault on Ten Thousand Skeletons Mountain. He improved his cultivation insights and learned that Hu Qingling had entered seclusion to attempt a breakthrough to late Golden Core, leaving the sect’s attack dependent on seizing its chance before the Blood Fiend Cult recovered.

• Li Chengjie stayed in his courtyard to digest Hu Qingshan’s inheritance and avoid further scrutiny from the Golden Core Ancestors.
• Flowing Cloud Sect organized its defenses, supplies, and battle preparations under the leadership of its five Golden Core Ancestors.
• Hu Qingling entered seclusion to attempt a breakthrough to the late Golden Core stage, raising the sect’s hopes for victory.
• Hu Haihan and Hu Qingshan judged that Meng Yaofan was weakened and urged the sect to strike the Blood Fiend Cult before he could recover.
• Li Chengjie reviewed his improved abilities and resolved to strengthen himself before the coming battle.

Li Chengjie entrusted Tang Tan with his pill quota and courtyard duties before entering seclusion to refine his spiritual energy and pursue breakthroughs in cultivation and pill making. Seven days later, Jin Guanghua arrived urgently to ask for Li Chengjie, but Tang Tan told him that Li remained in closed-door cultivation.

• Li Chengjie gave Tang Tan fifty bottles of pills, Spirit Stones, and Low-grade Talismans, and instructed her to handle his monthly quota and turn away visitors while he cultivated.
• Li Chengjie entered seclusion and used the Flowing Cloud True Fire Art to refine and condense his spiritual energy.
• As tensions rose in Black Cloud Market ahead of battle, Tang Tan stayed in the courtyard and delivered Li Chengjie's pills to the Affairs Hall, claiming he was attempting to make Second-tier Mid-grade Pills.
• Seven days passed, and Jin Guanghua urgently visited Li Chengjie's courtyard to ask when he would emerge from seclusion.
• Tang Tan told Jin Guanghua that Li Chengjie's breakthrough attempt could take ten days to several months, and Jin reacted with frustration and anxiety.

Jin Guanghua sought Li Chengjie's help changing his clansmen’s dangerous assignments, but Tang Tan refused to interrupt Li’s seclusion. Li continued refining his cultivation and realized that understanding Golden Core techniques fully required him to reach the Golden Core stage himself.

• Jin Guanghua pleaded with Tang Tan to report his urgent request to Li Chengjie, explaining that the Jin Family members in Black Cloud Market faced dangerous assignments.
• Tang Tan refused to disturb Li Chengjie’s seclusion but promised to tell him about Jin Guanghua’s visit once he emerged.
• Jin Guanghua left after asking Tang Tan to stress that his request concerned life and death and that the Jin Family would repay Li’s help.
• Tang Tan reflected on the fierce competition over assignments before resuming her work sorting medicinal ingredients.
• Li Chengjie sensed the exchange outside but remained in seclusion, focused on strengthening himself rather than getting involved in favors and assignments.
• Li Chengjie realized that his Foundation Establishment cultivation and spiritual sense could not fully unlock Golden Core insights without personally forming a Golden Core.

Li Chengjie studied Hu Qingshan’s successful Golden Core experience and Meng Tianran’s disastrous failure imprint to assess his own path to Core Formation. He concluded that his spiritual energy, divine sense, and physique gave him strong advantages, though he still needed to judge the quality of his foundation.

• Li Chengjie refined his spiritual energy into a concentrated crimson-gold flame and reflected on the transformation required to reach the Golden Core.
• Li Chengjie reviewed Hu Qingshan’s steady Core Formation process, from Foundation Establishment preparation through the dangers of condensing a core.
• Li Chengjie examined Meng Tianran’s failure, in which Blood Fiend Origin left his foundation mixed and unstable, causing his spiritual energy to rebel and damage his Dao Foundation.
• Li Chengjie resolved to use Hu Qingshan’s experience as a guide and Meng Tianran’s as a warning while preparing for his own Core Formation.
• Li Chengjie assessed his spiritual energy, divine sense, and physique, finding each unusually strong but recognizing that he still had to compare his foundation with Hu Qingshan’s.

Li Chengjie began condensing his Golden Core after preparing with Hu Qingshan's experience and Meng Tianran's failure imprint. As he compressed his Spiritual Energy Vortex, remnants of Meng Tianran's madness joined Li Chengjie's heart demons, leaving him facing a dangerous demonic tribulation.

• Li Chengjie spent seven days integrating Hu Qingshan's Golden Core experience and analyzing Meng Tianran's Failure Imprint.
• Li Chengjie used the Origin Returning Guide to draw Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy into his dantian for a day and night.
• Li Chengjie changed to the Origin Condensing Suppression seal and began compressing his Spiritual Energy Vortex layer by layer.
• Li Chengjie encountered a heart demon when compression reached one-third of the vortex.
• Li Chengjie realized Meng Tianran's resentful emotional remnants had merged with his own illusions, forming a powerful demonic tribulation.

Li Chengjie endured a Heart Demon Tribulation fueled by Meng Tianran's Failure Imprint while compressing Spiritual Energy to form his core. He used the Profound Light Mirror to separate his own fears from the foreign resentment, but the delay left his Spiritual Energy Vortex unstable and Core Condensation unfinished.

• Meng Tianran's Failure Imprint amplified Li Chengjie's fears and disrupted the compression of his Spiritual Energy Vortex.
• Li Chengjie used the Profound Light Mirror to observe his own Heart Demons and distinguish them from the imprint's foreign resentment.
• Li Chengjie isolated Meng Tianran's resentment and calmed the Heart Demon interference.
• Li Chengjie found that the Spiritual Energy Vortex remained unstable after the interruption and needed to resume compression quickly to complete Core Condensation.

A massive Spiritual Energy Vortex formed above Black Cloud Market as a Flowing Cloud Sect cultivator prepared to break through. The vortex suddenly exploded and vanished, leaving the cultivators uncertain whether the breakthrough had failed.

• Cultivators across Black Cloud Market sensed Spiritual Energy gathering over the Marketplace's Back Mountain.
• A Flowing Cloud Sect steward ordered the sect's disciples to remain at their posts and keep away from the Marketplace's center.
• The Spiritual Energy Vortex grew for a quarter of an hour, and cultivators gathered to watch the apparent breakthrough.
• The vortex abruptly stopped and burst outward, sending a shockwave through the Marketplace and damaging buildings and formations.
• After the Spiritual Energy dispersed, cultivators questioned whether the breakthrough had failed, while others warned them to stay silent.

Hu Qingling’s attempt to break through failed catastrophically, leaving him gravely injured and weakening Flowing Cloud Sect as it faced Blood Fiend Cult. Hu Haihan gave him a precious healing pill and arranged for his return to the sect, while the observers feared Flowing Cloud Sect would press ahead with its desperate offensive.

• Steward Chen and Old Qi concluded that the violent Spiritual Energy collapse meant Hu Qingling’s breakthrough had failed and likely left him gravely injured.
• Old Qi warned that Hu Haihan might still order Flowing Cloud Sect to attack because Meng Yaofan and Meng Fengmo could recover and leave the sect with no chance to turn the war around.
• Hu Haihan found Hu Qingling collapsed with a damaged Golden Core and cracked meridians after the failed breakthrough.
• Hu Haihan fed Hu Qingling a Third-grade Pill and said he had sent Hu Qingshan to escort him back to Flowing Cloud Sect to recover.

Hu Qingling’s failed breakthrough left him gravely injured and weakened the Flowing Cloud Sect’s plans against the Blood Fiend Cult. As Hu Haihan weighed a desperate strategy, a new core-formation phenomenon began at Black Cloud Market’s Alchemy Workshop, drawing attention to Alchemist Li’s residence.

• Hu Haihan used a Third-grade Nourishing Yuan Solidifying Foundation Pill and his spiritual energy to help Hu Qingling stabilize his injuries and guide the medicine’s power.
• Hu Qingling realized his failed breakthrough had worsened his Dao foundation damage from Meng Yaofan’s sneak attack and might leave his cultivation permanently diminished.
• Hu Haihan concluded that the Flowing Cloud Sect could not simply retreat and would have to gamble on an attack before Meng Yaofan recovered.
• A vast, five-colored Spiritual Energy Vortex formed over the marketplace’s southwest Alchemy Workshop and gathered around an ordinary-looking Cave Abode.
• Steward Chen, Old Qi, and the marketplace cultivators recognized the phenomenon as someone forming a Golden Core and speculated that it came from Alchemist Li’s residence.

Li Chengjie successfully formed a Golden Core in the Alchemy Workshop, producing an extraordinary Heaven and Earth phenomenon that astonished the Marketplace’s powerful cultivators. His breakthrough lifted the spirits of Black Cloud Market, though Hu Haihan judged that a newly advanced Golden Core would not erase the sect’s strategic disadvantage against the Blood Fiend Cult.

• Hu Haihan sensed a Core Formation disturbance at the Alchemy Workshop and realized Li Chengjie was likely attempting a breakthrough.
• Li Qingping and Hu Qingshan also detected the phenomenon and recognized that Li Chengjie was forming a core.
• Li Chengjie’s golden light absorbed his liquid spiritual energy and stabilized into a Golden Core, unleashing powerful, purified mana.
• A golden pillar, a five-colored Spiritual Energy Vortex, auspicious clouds, and Dao sounds marked Li Chengjie’s successful Core Formation.
• Old Qi, Steward Chen, and other cultivators witnessed the auspicious signs, and Black Cloud Market erupted in celebration.

Li Chengjie’s Golden Core breakthrough filled the Marketplace with hope, while Hu Haihan arranged Hu Qingling’s urgent return to Flowing Cloud Sect for treatment. Hu Qingshan carried his injured brother toward the sect as Hu Haihan remained behind.

• Li Chengjie’s Golden Core breakthrough produced auspicious clouds and Dao Sound, drawing cheering crowds toward the Alchemy Workshop district.
• Hu Haihan recognized the strength of Li Chengjie’s breakthrough and told the injured Hu Qingling that Li Chengjie, not Hu Jincheng, had advanced.
• Hu Haihan summoned Hu Qingshan and ordered him to escort Hu Qingling back to Flowing Cloud Sect for treatment.
• Hu Haihan gave Hu Qingshan Golden Shield Talismans and a Cloud Piercing Shuttle, and explained the dangers of the journey.
• Hu Qingshan carried Hu Qingling away toward Flowing Cloud Sect while Hu Haihan stayed in the Marketplace.

After Li Chengjie successfully formed his Golden Core, Hu Haihan invited Zhao Changpeng and Li Qingping to visit him and deliver the sect’s Spirit Solidifying Pill. The three arrived at Li Chengjie’s Cave Abode and acknowledged him as their equal, but a sudden change erupted as he came out to greet them.

• Hu Haihan sent Zhao Changpeng and Li Qingping messages proposing they congratulate Li Chengjie and give him a third-rank Spirit Solidifying Pill.
• Zhao Changpeng and Li Qingping accepted Hu Haihan’s invitation, and the three Golden Core cultivators flew toward Li Chengjie’s Cave Abode.
• Cultivators gathered outside the Alchemy Workshop watched the trio approach and discussed Li Chengjie’s new status and extraordinary core-formation phenomenon.
• Li Chengjie sensed the visitors, opened his Cave Abode’s formation, and welcomed them as fellow senior and junior disciples.
• Hu Haihan addressed Li Chengjie as a Golden Core peer, and a sudden change erupted as Li Chengjie appeared at the entrance.

After Li Chengjie formed his Golden Core, cultivators across Black Cloud Market gathered to congratulate him and seek his favor. Li Chengjie acknowledged the crowd with a calm command, leaving him publicly established as a Golden Core Ancestor.

• Jin Guanghua rushed to Li Chengjie's courtyard, knelt, and loudly pledged his loyalty to the new Golden Core Ancestor.
• Flowing Cloud Sect disciples knelt and congratulated Li Chengjie, followed by cultivators from allied forces, rogue cultivators, and small factions across the Marketplace.
• Hu Haihan calmly observed the crowd, while Zhao Changpeng remarked to Li Qingping on Jin Guanghua's timing and Li Chengjie's newfound reputation.
• Li Chengjie surveyed the kneeling cultivators and recognized that he now stood at the heart of the Chu Kingdom's Cultivation World as a Golden Core Ancestor.
• Li Chengjie stepped to the courtyard gate and told the gathered cultivators, "Fellow Daoists, please rise," silencing the crowd.

After Li Chengjie formed his Golden Core, Hu Haihan formally welcomed him as a Flowing Cloud Sect Grand Elder and gave him ten Third-tier Spirit Solidifying Pills. Hu Haihan then revealed that Li Chengjie would enter two months of seclusion before joining an offensive against Ten Thousand Skeletons Mountain as a key assault force.

• Li Chengjie humbly accepted the crowd’s congratulations, and Hu Haihan dismissed everyone and invited Li Chengjie and the other Golden Core cultivators inside.
• Hu Haihan gave Li Chengjie a Grand Elder token and Jade Slips detailing his new rights and duties in the Flowing Cloud Sect.
• Hu Haihan bestowed ten Third-tier Spirit Solidifying Pills on Li Chengjie to help him stabilize his Golden Core realm, while Zhao Changpeng and Li Qingping advised him to use them carefully.
• Hu Haihan explained that the sect and its allies planned to attack Ten Thousand Skeletons Mountain in two months.
• Hu Haihan ordered Li Chengjie to spend the two months in seclusion, master his new Golden Core abilities, and prepare to lead a core assault mission.

Li Chengjie learned that the Flowing Cloud Sect planned to use a rare Fourth Order talisman in its attack on the Blood Fiend Cult, and Hu Haihan urged him to prepare for battle during two months of secluded cultivation. Before entering seclusion, Li arranged for Tang Tan and Jin Guanghua to carry an important token to his master at the sect’s mountain gate.

• Hu Haihan showed Li Chengjie the Fourth Order Void Breaking Boundary Severing Talisman, which could breach the Blood Fiend Cult’s protective formation, and emphasized Li’s role in the coming strike against Meng Yaofan.
• Li Chengjie asked Hu Haihan, Zhao Changpeng, and Li Qingping to authorize Tang Tan and Jin Guanghua to travel to the Flowing Cloud Sect with a token for his master, Jin Leiwei, and they approved.
• After the three sect leaders left, Li Chengjie summoned Jin Guanghua and Tang Tan and told them to depart immediately with the token.
• Jin Guanghua eagerly accepted the assignment and vowed to deliver the token safely.