Chapter Summaries

Zhao Sheng and the Zhao Clan survived the Fire Centipede swarm by collapsing the passage and hiding beneath water and ice, but Rotten Peach Mountain was destroyed. After the swarm left, the clan stopped Old Daoist Shang from departing and demanded compensation for the damage caused by him.

• Zhao Sheng ordered Zhao Xuanjing to collapse the passage as the Fire Centipedes swarmed over Rotten Peach Mountain.
• Zhao Sheng had the clan pile stored demon beast remains in the cave and flood the lowest storeroom, where everyone hid beneath an iceberg.
• The Fire Centipedes devoured the bait, avoided the icy water, and eventually left the cave; Zhao Xuanjing confirmed the way was clear.
• Zhao Sheng and the Zhao Clan emerged safely, but Zhao Sheng and two other Foundation Establishment cultivators surrounded Old Daoist Shang as he tried to leave.
• Zhao Ke Ru pointed the Scarlet Rainbow Sword at Old Daoist Shang and demanded compensation for Rotten Peach Mountain's destruction.

Zhao Sheng and the Zhao cultivators battled Old Daoist Shang in a cave until both sides paused to negotiate. Old Daoist Shang began swearing an oath to serve the Zhao family, but Zhao Jinjian realized he was stalling, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Old Daoist Shang attacked Zhao Sheng and the others with tiger puppets and Black Thorns, but Zhao Sheng blocked the puppet beams with the Small Mountain Seal.
• Zhao Sheng forced Old Daoist Shang’s Emerald Bamboo Staff downward, but Old Daoist Shang empowered the staff and puppets with his blood, prompting Zhao Sheng to summon a Flame Giant Tiger to fight them.
• Old Daoist Shang revealed a Third-Order Treasure Talisman and threatened to unleash its Divine Blade, so both sides recalled their attacks and agreed to stop fighting.
• Zhao Sheng demanded that Old Daoist Shang serve the Zhao family for life and swear a Heart Demon Oath; Old Daoist Shang repeated the oath with Heart Blood.
• Zhao Jinjian warned that Old Daoist Shang was stalling, and Old Daoist Shang’s expression darkened.

Zhao Sheng killed Old Daoist Shang and the Zhao Family seized Fire in Wood, a spiritual fire that could combine with two others to form Samadhi True Fire. The group left the ruined mountain, unaware that other forces were profiting from the Beast Tide and taking over newly opened Spiritual Lands.

• Old Daoist Shang attacked Zhao Sheng with an emerald saber, but Zhao Sheng blocked it with his turtle-shell talisman and killed him with the Formless Sword.
• Zhao Jinjian and Zhao Ke Ru reached Zhao Sheng, and Zhao Ke Ru found Fire in Wood in Old Daoist Shang's Storage Bag.
• Zhao Sheng realized that Fire in Wood, together with the Zhao Family's Fire in Stone and a future Fire in Air, could form Samadhi True Fire.
• Zhao Ke Ru concealed Fire in Wood from the arriving Zhao Clan members to keep the family's spiritual fires secret.
• The Zhao Family left the devastated mountain, and Zhao Sheng reassured the clan members that they could rebuild.
• Across the Wilderness Domain, survivors and other forces took over Spiritual Lands after the Beast Tide, though Zhao Sheng learned of this only later from the Ge Family.

After the Beast Tide passed, the Zhao Family rebuilt Rotten Peach Mountain while Zhao Xuanjing spent eight years mining Geng Metal. With the mine exhausted and the family divided over where to settle, Zhao Sheng decided to leave its affairs to Zhao Xuanan and take Zhao Xuanjing back to Heaven Pillar Mountain to prepare for Foundation Establishment.

• Dan Ding Sect cultivators told Zhao Sheng that the Beast Tide’s main wave had passed, and the Zhao Family waited before rebuilding Rotten Peach Mountain.
• After three days without large beast herds, the Zhao Family declared the Beast Tide over, sent a cloud boat to Nine Cauldrons Market, and restored Rotten Peach Mountain.
• Zhao Xuanjing returned from the Geng Metal mine after eight years, reported that he had found no Supreme White Metal Essence, and confirmed that the mine had been sealed.
• Zhao Xuanjing favored Rotten Peach Mountain over Taiwu Mountain, while Zhao Xuanan and most clansmen supported Taiwu Mountain; Zhao Sheng also learned the Ge Family had reserved two Earth Fire Chambers for the Zhao Family.
• After Zhao Xuanjing reached Qi Refining Level Nine, Zhao Sheng told him to return to Heaven Pillar Mountain and said he would stop managing the family’s affairs.

Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing returned to Cave Heaven City, where Guiyuan Sect was recruiting followers, and sold their accumulated demon beast materials for Spirit Stones. A determined recruiter pressed Zhao Xuanjing to join before revealing that Guiyuan Zhenren had advanced to Nascent Soul five years earlier.

• Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing entered Cave Heaven City and saw Wei Youquan leading a crowd of red-robed Guiyuan Sect followers.
• Zhao Sheng sold the Zhao Family's demon beast materials at Qi Wu Pavilion, exchanging the proceeds for Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Zhao Sheng returned to the inn and found a red-robed woman persistently urging Zhao Xuanjing to join Guiyuan Sect.
• The woman admitted she would earn merit by guiding Zhao Xuanjing and then invited Zhao Sheng to join as well.
• The woman revealed that Patriarch Guiyuan had advanced to Nascent Soul five years earlier.

Zhao Sheng returned to the Zhao Clan Secret Estate, where Little Gold successfully transformed into a second-order spirit insect. After refusing Zhao Xuanjing’s request for the Dragon Pearl, Zhao Sheng left the estate to seek a place with denser spiritual energy, and a shop in Cave Heaven City changed owners.

• Zhao Sheng questioned a Guiyuan Sect recruiter, then gave Zhao Xuanjing ten thousand Spirit Stones.
• Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing arrived at the secret estate, where Zhao Xuanjing accidentally struck the Stone Wall Formation and then began cultivating.
• After a month, Zhao Sheng concluded that the estate’s spiritual energy could no longer support his cultivation.
• Little Gold consumed Mountain Dragon fragments, completed its transformation, and grew much larger.
• Zhao Sheng refused to give Zhao Xuanjing the Dragon Pearl, entrusted him with two formation plates, and left the secret estate.
• A Miscellaneous Spirit Shop in Cave Heaven City’s outer city quietly changed owners.

Zhao Sheng opened Golden Talisman Pavilion to an overwhelming crowd and used its success to strengthen his business and connections in Cave Heaven City. Over the following year, he entered new social circles and watched Guiyuan Ancestor establish Guiyuan Sect, which quickly attracted tens of thousands of disciples.

• Zhao Sheng unveiled Golden Talisman Pavilion, and customers crowded in to buy talismans from the two disguised twin sisters.
• Zhao Sheng secured the agreement of fellow talisman cultivators to consign their wares at the shop.
• After the shop made over twenty thousand Spirit Stones in turnover on its first day, Zhao Sheng revealed that he had given the Talisman Cultivator Association forty percent of its shares.
• Golden Talisman Pavilion remained popular, and Zhao Sheng gained a reputation and invitations into Cave Heaven City's hidden circles.
• Zhao Sheng rented a cultivation cave abode, entered the underground Black Market, and gained access to the third floor of Book Sea Tower.
• Guiyuan Ancestor left Cave Heaven City to found Guiyuan Sect at Cliff Mountain, where its disciples soon numbered more than fifty thousand.

Mei San brought Zhao Sheng an ancestral Jade Slip containing the Fire Cloud Art and asked to exchange it for Essence Blood Talismans. Zhao Sheng agreed to take the cultivation art but hesitated over the talismans, leaving their exchange unresolved.

• Mei San visited the Golden Talisman Pavilion and waited his turn to meet Zhao Sheng.
• Mei San presented a Jade Slip and claimed it held the Fire Cloud Art, inherited from an ancestor who reached Foundation Establishment.
• Zhao Sheng examined the art and weighed the risks of fraudulent or altered cultivation manuals before hearing why Mei San was selling it.
• Mei San explained that he needed Spirit Stones to join the Guiyuan Sect and requested Essence Blood Talismans in exchange.
• Zhao Sheng agreed to accept the Jade Slip but worried that supplying the talismans would deepen the Guiyuan Sect's demands on him.

Zhao Sheng traded cultivation arts and other goods to build his foundation, then took a corpse-path artifact formula to the Black Market to bargain with Fellow Daoist Lin. He left the negotiation seeking Lin’s sect’s Soul Return Art instead of a Bronze Armor Corpse.

• Zhao Sheng refused Mei San’s offer to exchange the Fire Cloud Art for Essence Blood Talismans, then traded the art for Zhu Xingyun’s Fire Offering Incantation at a Foundation Establishment exchange gathering.
• Over the next two years, Zhao Sheng’s trading business flourished, drawing in more cultivators and teaching him to spot deceit.
• Zhao Sheng disguised himself and entered Cave Heaven City’s Black Market, where he offered Fellow Daoist Lin the Seven Apertures Soul Sealing Nail’s refining method.
• When Lin refused to trade the Corpse Control Art for the incomplete Corpse Transformation Great Art, Zhao Sheng started to leave, prompting Lin to offer a Bronze Armor Corpse.
• Zhao Sheng rejected the corpse and demanded Lin’s sect’s Soul Return Art instead.

Zhao Sheng completed the Spirit Fire Gourd’s fire offering and received an invitation from a Golden Core True Person of the Guiyuan Sect. He arrived at the Spirit Nurturing Institute and was stunned by what he saw inside, while wondering why the other great powers tolerated the sect’s expansion.

• Zhao Sheng exchanged for the Corpse Control Art and Soul Return Art after agreeing to keep them secret.
• Zhao Sheng used the Fire Offering Incantation to preserve the Spirit Fire Gourd’s spirituality.
• Wei Youquan, now a Foundation Establishment cultivator, invited Zhao Sheng to a Dharma gathering hosted by a Golden Core True Person.
• Zhao Sheng tried to question Wei Youquan and gave him two-hundred-year-old Drunken Spring Breeze, but learned only that others had also been invited.
• Zhao Sheng went to the Spirit Nurturing Institute and noticed its many disciples before freezing at the people in the main hall.

Zhao Sheng attended a gathering of rogue Foundation Establishment talisman cultivators and learned that Jing Hong had become a true Golden Core True Person. Jing Hong invited them to join the Guiyuan Sect with promises of matching Golden Core cultivation arts, leaving Zhao Sheng tempted but still wary as Jing Hong began to reveal the sect’s secret.

• Zhao Sheng joined the other unaffiliated Foundation Establishment talisman cultivators at a meeting in Cave Heaven City.
• Jing Hong arrived displaying a Golden Core Phenomenon, astonishing the gathering with news of his advancement to a true Golden Core.
• Jing Hong invited the rogue cultivators to join the Guiyuan Sect, and nearly half accepted immediately.
• Old Taoist Feng Yu challenged Zhao Sheng to declare whether he would join, but Jing Hong lifted the pressure on him before he answered.
• Jing Hong promised Golden Core cultivation arts suited to each cultivator’s spiritual root, including water-element arts that tempted Zhao Sheng.
• Asked how he had advanced so quickly, Jing Hong said the secret involved the Guiyuan Sect’s foundational Blood Soul Sutra.

Zhao Sheng agreed to join the Guiyuan Sect, prepared to shield his family from its troubles, and traveled to the sect’s mountain gate with other Foundation Establishment cultivators. During the joining ceremony, he saw a Weird Face emerge from the oath Stone Tablet and swallow his Heart Blood.

• Jing Hong persuaded eleven Foundation Establishment cultivators to join the Guiyuan Sect by describing its cultivation techniques and benefits, and Zhao Sheng also agreed.
• Zhao Sheng decided that joining the sect was worth the risk, then told Zhao Xuanjing to conceal their relationship and the Zhao Clan’s origins.
• Zhao Sheng met Master Bu Hu, Old Taoist Feng Yu, and the others at the Spirit Nurturing Institute, and True Person Jing Hong led them by cloud roc to Cliff Mountain.
• Sect Master Jin Chenzi welcomed the newcomers, explained the Guiyuan Sect’s rules, and began their admission ceremony by having them offer Heart Blood to a Stone Tablet.
• Using Bullet Time, Zhao Sheng saw a Weird Face emerge from the Stone Tablet, swallow his Heart Blood, and disappear before the group swore Heart Demon oaths of loyalty.

Zhao Sheng obtained the Golden Core Realm cultivation art "Mystic Origin Heavy Water Art" and used it to begin transitioning his Spiritual Power. After establishing a new cycle, he understood that the art’s greatest value lay in helping cultivators overcome the difficult transition to True Essence.

• Jin Chenzi led Zhao Sheng and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators to the Scripture Pavilion and warned them to choose only one Golden Core Realm cultivation art within an hour.
• Zhao Sheng selected the "Mystic Origin Heavy Water Art," which shared a lineage with the simplified "Mystic Spirit Art" he already cultivated.
• Zhao Sheng copied the dense contents of the Jade Slip and used a Mind Nourishing Pill to recover from the strain.
• Five days later, Zhao Sheng completed a new Spiritual Power cycle, converting his cultivation art far faster than expected.
• Zhao Sheng realized that Golden Core Realm cultivation arts were precious because they helped cultivators transition Spiritual Power into True Essence.

Zhao Sheng posted a bounty for One Yuan Heavy Water and accepted talisman-making missions at the Guiyuan Sect's Merit Hall. Two years later, he completed a large batch of Blood Refining Talismans, while Wei Ling remained frustrated by how little he had taught her.

• Zhao Sheng learned that One Yuan Heavy Water could help transform his Spiritual Power and decided to seek it out.
• Zhao Sheng offered eight thousand Spirit Stones per drop of One Yuan Heavy Water and accepted several missions to make talismans.
• Zhao Sheng requested essence blood from one thousand people to refine Blood Refining Talismans.
• Two years later, Zhao Sheng finished a batch of two hundred Blood Refining Talismans and sent Wei Ling to deliver them to the Merit Hall.
• Wei Ling turned in the talismans and requested another two hundred people's worth of essence blood, still resentful that Zhao Sheng had taught her almost nothing.

Wei Ling visited Zhao Sheng, who checked her cultivation and rewarded her with Blood Refining Talismans before negotiating a larger supply with her grandfather. Zhao Sheng then met Qian Zhenzi at Upright Pavilion, where they shared Mind Calming Tea and discussed its effects, leaving the One Yuan Heavy Water question unanswered.

• Zhao Sheng examined Wei Ling's health and praised her progress in the Blood Refining Body Forging Art.
• Wei Ling asked for Blood Refining Talismans, and Zhao Sheng gave her a stack while ordering her to tell Wei Youquan to increase the supply and provide better cultivation arts.
• Zhao Sheng rode his Spirit Fire Gourd to Upright Pavilion to meet Qian Zhenzi.
• Qian Zhenzi brewed Mind Calming Tea with Zhao Sheng's Purple Dawn Jade Dew and revealed that he had refined Great Sun Spiritual Fire.
• Zhao Sheng drank the tea, which cleared his mind and increased his Divine Sense's reach to eighteen zhang, before the two turned to business.

Zhao Sheng agreed to supply Qian Zhenzi’s Lingkong Branch with Blood Refining Talismans and bought ten drops of One Yuan Heavy Water, then learned more about the Blood Refining Divine Art. After three months of cultivation and failed attempts to refine the heavy water, he discovered his strong self-healing talent helped him condense essence blood quickly, and learned that Golden Talisman Pavilion had become unsettled.

• Qian Zhenzi asked Zhao Sheng to join him at Lingkong Branch, but Zhao Sheng refused and agreed to supply the branch with eight hundred Blood Refining Talismans each year.
• Qian Zhenzi sold Zhao Sheng ten drops of One Yuan Heavy Water for eighty thousand Spirit Stones and explained the Blood Refining Divine Art.
• Three months later, Zhao Sheng emerged from his cultivation chamber after using all the One Yuan Heavy Water in over a hundred failed refining attempts.
• Zhao Sheng cultivated the Blood Refining Body Forging Art to Entry Level and raised the technique to Great Completion, while his Elementary Self-Healing talent let him condense three drops of essence blood a day.
• Zhao Sheng asked Wei Ling about her Spring Breeze Rain Talisman success rate, then learned that Wei Youquan wanted him to return to Cave Heaven City because Golden Talisman Pavilion was unsettled.

Zhao Sheng discovered that the Blood Soul Sutra consumed its cultivators’ lifespans, but accepted the cost as he continued advancing. Over thirty years, Zhao Xuanjing established his Foundation and left to temper his Dao heart, while Zhao Sheng reached the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment and watched the Guiyuan Sect grow.

• Zhao Sheng realized the Blood Soul Sutra secretly traded lifespan for cultivation and questioned Guiyuan Ancestor’s motives and the Ten Great Sects’ inaction.
• Zhao Sheng refined essence blood into divine sense, accepted the lifespan cost, and welcomed Zhao Xuanjing after he successfully established his Foundation.
• Two months later, Zhao Xuanjing left the Zhao Clan Secret Estate to travel and temper his Dao heart, while Zhao Sheng chose to remain in Cave Heaven City.
• Over the next thirty years, Zhao Sheng advanced to the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment as the Guiyuan Sect grew to more than one hundred thousand Qi Refinement disciples, over one hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, and three additional Golden Core True Persons.
• Zhao Sheng saw no public discovery of the Blood Soul Sutra’s danger and became increasingly inconspicuous within the Guiyuan Sect, a result he welcomed.

Zhao Sheng discovered that Wei Youquan had died of Blood Wilt Syndrome and found a strange blood pill inside his body, deepening his suspicions about the Guiyuan Sect’s hidden dangers. Before he could investigate further, the sect’s Corpse Collectors arrived to take the body.

• Wei Ling summoned Zhao Sheng to the Spirit Nurturing Institute after her grandfather, Wei Youquan, suddenly collapsed and appeared near death.
• Zhao Sheng diagnosed Wei Youquan with Blood Wilt Syndrome and recognized it as part of the Guiyuan Sect’s growing crisis.
• Zhao Sheng sealed off the room and examined Wei Youquan’s corpse, discovering a crimson blood pill in his Purple Palace with Wei Youquan’s face appearing on it.
• Zhao Sheng connected the blood pill to the Blood Filth and Weird Face he had encountered decades earlier.
• Two Guiyuan Sect Corpse Collectors broke through Zhao Sheng’s barrier and entered to claim Wei Youquan’s body.

Zhao Sheng returned to the Guiyuan Sect, arranged to establish a branch institute in the Sky Desolate Region, and grieved the death of Zhao Jinjian before setting out on his next undertaking. After burying contingencies at several locations, he visited Wang Yuyan’s grave in Nanyang, where he left with his heart still unsettled.

• Zhao Sheng returned to the Guiyuan Sect, exchanged for the Golden Crow Heaven Burning Art in disguise, and learned about the Sky Desolate Region from Old Taoist Feng Yu in exchange for merit and payment.
• Zhao Sheng gained Sect Master Jin Chenzi’s approval to establish a branch institute and selected four Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivators to accompany him.
• After his jade pendant shattered, Zhao Sheng rushed to Taiwu Mountain, where he arrived too late to see Zhao Jinjian before his death.
• Zhao Sheng mourned Zhao Jinjian, recognized the Zhao Clan’s prosperity, buried contingencies at Taiwu Mountain and Dragon Carp Lake, and departed.
• Zhao Sheng visited Wang Yuyan’s grave in Nanyang and left the cemetery at dusk, still unable to find peace.

Zhou Quan met a cloaked newcomer who asked directions to Wind Feather Hall and unknowingly received a Spirit Stone as a reward. Third Master took the stone and forced Zhou Quan to lure Wind Feather Hall into a trap, leaving Zhou Quan to agree in exchange for protection and farmland at Moon Spring.

• Zhou Quan emerged from a mine pit and saw a cloaked figure enter Mystic Iron City through the West Gate.
• The cloaked figure asked Zhou Quan for directions to Wind Feather Hall, then left him a Spirit Stone.
• Third Master ambushed Zhou Quan, took the Spirit Stone, and ordered him to join Wind Feather Hall.
• Third Master told Zhou Quan to lure Wind Feather Hall into a supposed Treasure Pit on the YiHai Mine Path within seven days.
• Zhou Quan agreed after Third Master promised him farmland at Moon Spring and protection from Great Dragon Hall.