Chapter Summaries

After Wang Yu was rejected by the Vulture Peak Sect for his Useless Spiritual Roots, his father sent him away from Stone Lake City to escape the Wang Clan’s power struggle. Meanwhile, the City Lord negotiated with a Black Robe Figure from the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect over buying youths with poor Spiritual Roots.

• Wang Yu was eliminated from the Spirit Testing, and Wang Wu mocked him after revealing his Dual Spiritual Roots aptitude.
• Wang Yu returned home, where Wang Chongwen told him to leave for Thousand Autumn City because Wang Wu would threaten him once he gained power.
• Wang Yu departed by carriage, unaware that Wang Chongwen had resolved to die after his son left.
• The Stone Lake City Lord refused to sell youths with Three Spiritual Roots or better to the Black Robe Figure, who complained about the price for those with Five Spiritual Roots.

Wang Yu was abducted with other spirit-testing candidates and transported from Stone Lake City to the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect in the Red Kite Demon Domain. He arrived at the sect’s vast Nine Peaks mountain gate, uncertain what fate awaited him.

• The Stone Lake City Lord agreed to sell candidates with Useless and Mixed Spiritual Roots to a Black Robe Figure and negotiated to buy an Inverse Blood Pill.
• After spirit testing, cultivators from the City Lord’s Mansion captured the qualifying candidates, including Wang Yu.
• Wang Yu awoke in a prison cart and watched Inverse Spirit Blood Sect cultivators meet the convoy at Stone Lake.
• The demonic cultivators bribed the guards at Black Mountain Pass and escorted the captives into the Red Kite Demon Domain.
• The captives endured a month of guarded travel before reaching the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect’s enormous Nine Peaks mountain gate.

Wang Yu arrived at the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect’s mountain stronghold and learned that he and the other captives had been made Spirit Slaves. He studied the rules and cultivation manual, realizing that becoming an Outer Disciple was his only possible path to freedom.

• Wang Yu traveled with the other captives to the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect’s stronghold, where the demonic cultivators counted them as Spirit Slaves.
• Steward Duan told Wang Yu and the others that they had to repay their Buying Body Money before they could leave, though diligent Spirit Slaves could become Outer Disciples.
• Wang Yu settled into Stone House No. 83 and received food, a guide to the Spirit Slave rules, and a nine-level Qi Refining cultivation manual.
• Wang Yu learned that Spirit Slaves who reached Qi Refining had to make Spirit Sand each month and repay one hundred Low Grade Spirit Stones to apply for Outer Disciple status.
• Wang Yu decided that escape was nearly impossible and resolved to follow the sect’s rules in pursuit of becoming an Outer Disciple.

Wang Yu began practicing the Blood Burning Art through his Placement Slot and discovered it could run the method repeatedly without burning his lifespan. The chapter ended with his understanding nearing a breakthrough after a day of passive cultivation.

• Wang Yu selected the Blood Burning Art and saw that the Placement Slot could run it forty-eight times a day.
• Wang Yu completed one cycle and felt a brief warm current without losing lifespan.
• Wang Yu reasoned that the Placement Slot cultivated normally, producing Spirit Qi independently of his body and the surrounding world.
• Wang Yu continued cultivating while awake and asleep, and his understanding of the Blood Burning Art advanced toward a breakthrough.

Wang Yu attended a cultivation lecture at the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect and learned how Steward Duan’s faction offered rewards for spirit slaves who produced Spirit Sand. He unexpectedly reached Qi Refining First Layer through the Placement Slot and discovered he could place the Blood Burning Art in a second slot to accelerate its mastery.

• Wang Yu joined thousands of spirit slaves at the Bluestone Plaza, where Outer Disciples lectured them on cultivation and literacy.
• Wang Yu noticed that some impoverished farm boys avoided learning to read, leaving themselves ignorant of the sect’s rules and opportunities.
• Wang Yu received a note from Steward Duan offering rewards for turning in extra Spirit Sand and promising a possible Outer Disciple quota.
• Wang Yu’s Placement Slot transmitted spiritual power directly into his dantian, allowing him to reach Qi Refining First Layer.
• Wang Yu found that his Placement Slot had gained a second slot and successfully placed the Blood Burning Art in it, sharing its progress across both slots.

Wang Yu burned his lifespan to cultivate the Blood Burning Art, then used his Placement Slots to build spiritual power and condense Spirit Sand. By his twelfth day at the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect, he had reached the Qi Refining Second Layer.

• Wang Yu activated the Life Burning Secret Technique, capturing Spirit Qi but spending one year of lifespan for each wisp of spiritual power he refined.
• Wang Yu used a wisp of spiritual power to condense two qian of Spirit Sand and realized how the sect’s demands could drain Spirit Slaves’ lives.
• Wang Yu tested that Spirit Sand made with Blood Burning Spiritual Power lost its bloody aura after being left alone.
• Wang Yu skipped the dawn lecture and continued cultivating while his Placement Slots worked through the day.
• On his twelfth day at the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect, Wang Yu advanced to the Qi Refining Second Layer.

Wang Yu sought Steward Duan’s help advancing from Spirit Slave to Outer Disciple and learned that his rapid cultivation and Spirit Sand contributions alone would not earn him a place. Steward Duan offered him a path through faction recruitment, leaving Wang Yu to consider the demand.

• Wang Yu left the Stone House with an aged appearance and went to Bluestone Plaza to find Steward Duan.
• After the lecture, Wang Yu presented Steward Duan with one tael of Spirit Sand and declared his ambition to join the sect as an Outer Disciple.
• Steward Duan praised Wang Yu publicly before the Spirit Slaves, calling him a likely first choice for promotion from the batch.
• Steward Duan explained the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect’s ten competing branches and Cold Blood Peak’s influence under True Inheritor Su.
• Steward Duan told Wang Yu that he had to recruit one hundred people into his faction to earn an Outer Disciple slot, then asked whether Wang Yu had reservations.

Wang Yu mastered the Ice Sword Technique and began recruiting two fellow townsmen from Stone Lake City for Steward Duan’s faction. He warned them that they had two months to learn the Blood Burning Art and reach the Qi Refining Stage, leaving their fate dependent on whether they could meet the deadline.

• Steward Duan gave Wang Yu the medium-grade Ice Sword Technique after Wang Yu pledged his service to the Saint Sect and Su.
• Wang Yu placed the technique in his cultivation slot and used its repeated practice to master it in thirty days.
• Wang Yu tested the Ice Sword Technique in his Stone House and found that it was powerful but consumed nearly all his spiritual power.
• Wang Yu approached two new Spirit Slaves from Stone Lake City and warned them that escape from the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect was hopeless.
• Wang Yu told the two townsmen to learn the Blood Burning Art and reach the Qi Refining Stage within two months.

Wang Yu recruited Spirit Slaves by promising a chance to become Outer Disciples and demanding increased Spirit Sand tributes, drawing the attention of Steward Liu’s followers. When Spirit Slave Fang and his group confronted him, Wang Yu maimed three of them with the Ice Sword Technique before Steward Duan intervened, and Wang Yu appealed to him for justice.

• Wang Yu persuaded seven Spirit Slaves in one morning and later convinced two skeptical acquaintances to increase their Spirit Sand tribute.
• Wang Yu pressured more Spirit Slaves to join him, while Old Fang and two other followers of Steward Liu discussed warning or framing him.
• Wang Yu recruited another fellow townsman and reflected that his plan depended on Steward Duan informing True Inheritor Su and Su choosing to help him.
• Spirit Slave Fang and more than a dozen Spirit Slaves surrounded Wang Yu in Bluestone Plaza and accused him of poaching recruits.
• Wang Yu used the Ice Sword Technique to sever the hands and feet of Spirit Slave Fang and two other Qi Refining Second Layer cultivators.
• Steward Duan crushed Wang Yu’s ice swords with a Magical Artifact, and Wang Yu claimed the group had attacked him without cause.

After Steward Liu severed Wang Yu’s left arm, Wang Yu focused on cultivation and perfected the Ice Sword Technique before replacing it with the Blood Burning Art. Steward Duan later summoned him again and offered to explain the earlier events and possibly restore his arm, leaving Wang Yu to hear what Duan wanted in return.

• Steward Liu accused Wang Yu of maiming the Spirit Slaves and severed Wang Yu’s left arm, while Steward Duan left to investigate at Cold Blood Peak.
• Wang Yu returned to his stone house, destroyed the remains of his arm, and spent more than ten days cultivating until the Ice Sword Technique reached perfection.
• Wang Yu replaced the Ice Sword Technique in a Placement Slot with the Blood Burning Art and calculated that he needed three months and four days to reach the Qi Refining Third Layer.
• Steward Duan summoned Wang Yu to an Elegant Pavilion and pressed him to admit resentment toward Steward Liu.
• Steward Duan said he might find a way to restore Wang Yu’s arm and began explaining that his earlier change in attitude followed a reprimand from True Inheritor Su.

Wang Yu learned why Steward Liu had grown so powerful and was pressured by Steward Duan to rebuild his Spirit Slave ranks. In return, True Inheritor Su gave him an incomplete Corpse Demon Secret Art, and Wang Yu decided to set it aside for now and prioritize cultivation.

• Steward Duan explained that Steward Liu's True Inheritor was close to Core Formation, which had strengthened Liu's faction and left Duan with far fewer subordinates.
• Steward Duan asked Wang Yu to rebuild his Spirit Slave ranks and promised that True Inheritor Su might help him become an Inner Disciple.
• Wang Yu received the incomplete Corpse Demon Secret Art and learned that it had numerous side effects, including bodily transformation and a shortened lifespan.
• Wang Yu tested the secret art in Placement Slot 2, saw that mastery would take three months, then restored the Blood Burning Art to the slot.
• Wang Yu decided to prioritize cultivation while considering whether the Placement Slot could eventually improve the Corpse Demon Secret Art.

Wang Yu studied the Corpse Demon Secret Art and decided to use the Placement Slot’s bodily transformation to gain power, but first he needed more Spirit Slaves to shift the balance against Steward Liu. He secretly killed the three men who had crippled his left hand, hoping their deaths would expose the exploitation of the Spirit Slaves and embroil the True Inheritor Disciples; the Stone House Area erupted into chaos the next day.

• Wang Yu realized that completing the Corpse Demon Secret Art through the Placement Slot would transform his body, and he resolved to wait until he had more Spirit Slaves to support him.
• Ten days later, more than three hundred newcomers arrived from the Great Lake Spirit Domain, but Steward Liu’s influence and the watchful eyes of the three men who had attacked Wang Yu kept him from recruiting them.
• That night, Wang Yu slipped out of Stone House No. 83 and used the Ice Sword Technique to kill the three men in their stone house.
• The next morning, Wang Yu disguised himself as an aged, one-armed man while reasoning that the killings might force the True Inheritor Disciples to act against Steward Liu to protect their interests and the Sect’s rules.
• Soon afterward, the Stone House Area descended into chaos.

After three Spirit Slaves were found dead from wounds that appeared to have been made with the Ice Sword Technique, Steward Liu accused Steward Duan and confronted Wang Yu. The confrontation turned against Steward Liu when a Law Enforcement Disciple brought him a bag of Spirit Sand, leaving him shaken.

• A disciple discovered three dead Spirit Slaves, and Steward Liu accused Steward Duan of killing them with the Ice Sword Technique.
• Steward Liu and Steward Duan led the other stewards to Stone House No. 83 to question Wang Yu, who confessed to the killings and submitted to punishment.
• Steward Liu described the sect’s tortures, while Wang Yu looked to Steward Duan for an explanation and Steward Liu accused Duan of threatening him.
• Steward Duan pointed to the damaged fence, but the Law Enforcement Disciples and the food distributor confirmed that Wang Yu had stayed inside and that the distributor had damaged it.
• Steward Duan accused Wang Yu of conspiring with Steward Liu, but a Law Enforcement Disciple delivered Steward Liu a bag of excess Spirit Sand, making him freeze and tremble.

Wang Yu maneuvered through the Spirit Sand scandal and won True Inheritor Su’s favor, earning a spell and a promise of promotion. After the investigation faded and he continued cultivating, he broke through to the Qi Refining Third Layer.

• Fatty Duan left to report to True Inheritor Su, while Steward Liu ordered the Stone House Area sealed and tried to contain the Spirit Sand scandal.
• Steward Duan blamed Wang Yu before True Inheritor Su, who praised Wang Yu and ordered his promotion to Outer Disciple in three months.
• Steward Duan gave Wang Yu a Technique Transmission Jade Slip containing the high-grade Night Concealment Spell as a reward.
• Wang Yu returned to Stone House No. 83, and a new steward arrived a month later as the hidden-sand case settled down.
• On his 137th day as a Spirit Slave, Wang Yu accumulated one hundred strands of spiritual power and broke through to the Qi Refining Third Layer.

After reaching the Qi Refining Third Layer, Wang Yu was promoted from Spirit Slave to Outer Disciple of Cold Blood Peak. Steward Duan equipped him with his new disciple token and benefits, then took him to the Outer Disciples’ residential area.

• Wang Yu completed his breakthrough, though his Placement Slot remained unchanged.
• Steward Duan announced that True Inheritor Su had promoted Wang Yu to an Outer Disciple for his contributions to the sect.
• Wang Yu left Stone House No. 83 with Steward Duan and bound a Black Blood Disciple Token to himself with a drop of blood.
• Steward Duan gave Wang Yu Outer Disciple equipment, including a storage bag, a flying artifact, a free cultivation technique exchange, and a token worth one thousand Contribution Points.
• Steward Duan took Wang Yu to the Outer Disciples’ residential area at the foot of the Nine Peaks.

Steward Duan brought Wang Yu to Ice Snow Tower in Cold Blood Ward and warned him that his Spirit Slave origins would leave him excluded. Zhao Shang assigned Wang Yu an Essence Qi Chamber and a booklet explaining the tower’s layout and rules.

• Steward Duan took Wang Yu through Inverse Blood Ten Wards and explained that he would serve under True Inheritor Su at Ice Snow Tower.
• Wang Yu was impressed by Cold Blood Ward’s dense Spirit Qi and learned that breaking through a major cultivation realm still required substantial external Spirit Qi.
• At Ice Snow Tower, Duan Ping introduced Wang Yu as an Outer Sect disciple promoted from Spirit Slave, then left him with Zhao Shang.
• Zhao Shang criticized Duan Ping, explained that newcomers usually paid gift money for rooms, and assigned Wang Yu an Essence Qi Chamber on the tenth floor.
• Wang Yu read the booklet and learned about Ice Snow Tower’s chambers, residents, and authority to issue missions for a fifty-percent handling fee.

After moving into Ice Snow Tower, Wang Yu struggled to afford food and sought a new cultivation art to replace the Blood Burning Art. He chose the Cold Blood Art and returned to decide which spells to train first.

• Wang Yu moved into the vacant twenty-ninth room on Ice Snow Tower's tenth floor.
• Wang Yu bought three hundred meat buns with Spirit Sand to solve his food problem.
• At the Scripture Pavilion, Wang Yu chose the Cold Blood Art for its potential to improve his aptitude and its synergy with the Corpse Demon Secret Art.
• Wang Yu obtained the Cold Blood Art, Ice Sword Technique, and Ice Shield Technique, along with the inheritance's artifact blueprint and alchemy recipe.
• Wang Yu compared the training times for the Night Concealment Spell and Ice Shield Technique, then chose to train the Night Concealment Spell first.

Wang Yu weighed the benefits of switching to the Cold Blood Art and learned that the Placement Slot was steadily refining his spiritual power toward a breakthrough. On his fifth day as an Outer Disciple, he accepted a medicine-garden assignment through Zhao Shang, agreeing to surrender most of its reward to Ice Snow Tower's leaders.

• Wang Yu concluded that the Cold Blood Art could temper his body, replace his Blood Burning Spiritual Power, and help him approach the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.
• Wang Yu spent several days investigating the Inverse Blood Ten Wards, prioritizing the Cold Blood Ward.
• Wang Yu considered the risks of living in Ice Snow Tower and the jealousy of Outer Disciples who coveted his Essence Qi Chamber.
• Wang Yu asked Zhao Shang about Ice Snow Tower's tasks, then chose to maintain Steward Tantai's private Medicine Garden for half a year.
• Zhao Shang assigned Wang Yu the task and told him to surrender fifty percent of its reward to True Inheritor Su and another ten percent to the Foundation Establishment cultivators and Zhao Shang.

Wang Yu accepted a medicine-garden task and began studying spirit herbs, but two Outer Disciples ambushed him in a dark alley. He killed Chen San Shi and confronted the other attacker, who still stood in his way.

• Wang Yu bought the Herbal Compendium · Qi Refining Chapter and used a Placement Slot to memorize it.
• After taking the Care for the Medicine Garden task, Wang Yu realized he had been lured into an alley by a Bewildering Butterfly.
• A Qi Refining Fourth Layer cultivator attacked Wang Yu while Chen San Shi moved to strike from behind.
• Wang Yu dodged the first attack, then pierced Chen San Shi with a volley of Ice Swords and took his Storage Bag.
• Wang Yu challenged the surviving attacker’s reason for targeting him and questioned whether someone else had manipulated him.

Wang Yu learned that Zhao Shang had placed a secret bounty on him, killed the disciple who revealed it, and sold the corpses and equipment at Ice Snow Tower. After staying in his room for four days, he replaced his Herbal Compendium with the Night Concealment Spell to strengthen his combat abilities.

• Wang Yu coaxed a fellow disciple into revealing that Zhao Shang had offered his Essence Qi House as a bounty, then killed him with his Ice Sword.
• Wang Yu took the dead disciple’s Storage Bag, hid the corpse, and returned to Ice Snow Tower, where Zhao Shang noticed his injury.
• Wang Yu sold two corpses and the other loot from the Storage Bags to Zhao Shang, leaving with one hundred fifty spirit stones and about eighty spirit stones’ worth of spirit sand.
• Wang Yu stayed in Room 29 for four days, then replaced his completed Herbal Compendium placement with the Night Concealment Spell.