Chapter Summaries

Zheng Fa questioned whether External Core methods truly needed to imitate the human body and proposed treating Golden Core formation as an engineering problem. He left the chapter preparing to develop broadly useful martial arts while requiring they be introduced through the Nursing Home, signaling his distrust of people who had exploited Nine Mountains No. 1.

• At a health checkup on Paradise Island, Zheng Fa told Senior Sister Zhang and Xiao Yuying that he wanted to investigate human anatomy and rethink External Core methods from first principles.
• Zheng Fa explained that the checkups would establish a standard body model and measure how Dao-Entry Martial Arts improved ordinary people's physiques.
• At the Nursing Home, Zheng Fa argued that cultivation trained the body to function as a pill cauldron, rather than pill cauldrons being designed to imitate the body.
• Cheng Yun and the others realized they could design an External Core reactor without the constraint of copying human anatomy.
• Zheng Fa gave Team Leader Yang simple martial arts manuals and required anyone promoting their practice to consult the Nursing Home first.
• Zheng Fa told Team Leader Yang that he knew some people had manipulated Nine Mountains No. 1 sales and did not trust them, then left her wondering whether he had just manipulated her.

Zheng Fa tested a traditional External Core cauldron in the Xuanwei Realm while Old Man Bai recruited and trained the first instructors for the Nine Mountains Martial Arts Hall. The trial cauldron cracked, and Xiao Yuying offered to introduce Zheng Fa to an artifact refiner capable of making External Cores.

• Zheng Fa used Great Dream Talismans to screen the martial arts recruits and dismissed nearly half for dreams that showed they might misuse their strength.
• Old Man Bai defeated the remaining recruits in forty seconds, then had them sign contracts to become instructors at the Nine Mountains Martial Arts Hall.
• Chen Sheng and the other trainees saw Tang Lingwu fly down from the mountain, and Old Man Bai told them that both his and her abilities came from the hall master.
• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang tested a traditional External Core cauldron in the Xuanwei Realm, but the cauldron cracked.
• Xiao Yuying told Zheng Fa that she had a friend who could refine External Cores.

Zheng Fa hired Madam Xuanhua to forge a powerful Vast Sea External Alchemy and used her expertise to guide the Nine Mountains Sect’s artifact-forging disciples. After reviewing Zheng Fa and Cheng Yun’s proposed refinements, Madam Xuanhua was astonished by their work, while Xiao Yuying hinted that she had once been unable to keep a secret.

• Zheng Fa reassured the Artifact Forging Group after its first failed experiment and discussed hiring an artifact-forging master with Senior Sister Zhang and Uncle-Master Pang.
• Xiao Yuying brought Madam Xuanhua to the Nine Mountains Sect, where Zheng Fa agreed to her high fee in exchange for her expertise and discretion.
• Madam Xuanhua corrected the forging setup and materials, then reluctantly guided the disciples as they sought her advice.
• Madam Xuanhua forged a Vast Sea External Alchemy powerful enough to rival a Mid-Grade Golden Core, and Zheng Fa examined its stable inner energy.
• Zheng Fa showed Madam Xuanhua the sect’s proposed refinements to the External Core method, and she admitted she could see no problems with them.
• As Xiao Yuying accompanied Madam Xuanhua away, she teased her about being unable to keep a secret and said, "I did."

Zheng Fa welcomed Xiao Yuying to his home, learned that the Nine Mountains Sect had developed a method to adapt plants to the realm, and established terms for Madam Xuanhua to study its knowledge. The chapter ended as the sect began its first trial of a massive new pill furnace for refining an External Core.

• Zheng Fa hosted Xiao Yuying for a meal and discussed Jiang Chengkong’s slow journey to support the Hundred Immortals Alliance as the Seventh Young Master sent news of a devastating attack on a spirit field.
• Qian True Person reported that he, Supreme Elder Pang, and Lin Bufan had developed the Spiritwood Biogenesis Method, which could help crops and Spirit Plants adapt to the Nine Mountains Realm.
• Zheng Fa thanked Senior Sister Zhang for her tireless support, but she refused to accept his thanks.
• Xiao Yuying told Zheng Fa that Madam Xuanhua wanted to join the Nine Mountains Realm, and Zheng Fa set contribution requirements for outsiders seeking access to its knowledge.
• Madam Xuanhua paid to study Golden Core Engineering and followed Xiao Yuying to see the sect’s enormous new pill furnace.
• Zheng Fa announced the start of the first Divine Firmament External Alchemy refinement, and Senior Sister Zhang added Qi of Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Sha to the furnace.

Zheng Fa and the Nine Mountains Sect successfully refined the first Divine Firmament External Alchemy, then welcomed Madam Xuanhua’s offer to teach Artifact Refining Method. Mu Qingyan shared information about a Secret Realm connected to Venerable Tianhe, while Senior Sister Zhang and Xiao Yuying made progress analyzing Communication Talismans.

• Zheng Fa’s team completed the first Divine Firmament External Alchemy after three days of coordinated work, and he praised the disciples for their contributions.
• Madam Xuanhua asked to study Golden Core Engineering and offered to teach Artifact Refining Method in exchange for instruction and Spirit Stones.
• Mu Qingyan saw her likeness among the statues in the Hall of Worthies, then told Zheng Fa she knew about a Secret Realm connected to Venerable Tianhe.
• Zheng Fa asked Mu Qingyan to submit a general outline under the sect’s established information and Merit rules, and she returned home feeling reassured.
• Senior Sister Zhang explained that Communication Talismans used electromagnetic signals, shielding, and coding, prompting Zheng Fa to call her the future Mother of the Internet.

Zheng Fa proposed turning Communication Talismans into a many-to-many network, then organized a cooperative archaeological expedition to investigate a Secret Realm associated with Venerable Tianhe. He left the project in detailed preparation and drills designed to keep Nine Mountains disciples safe.

• Senior Sister Zhang explained that Communication Talismans used spiritual power for secure messaging, and Zheng Fa proposed adapting them for broadcasting, forums, and online trade.
• Zheng Fa argued that exploring Secret Realms could train disciples and provide resources and knowledge, and the Nine Mountains leaders agreed to proceed.
• Xiao Yuying accepted Zheng Fa's archaeological cooperation contract after he showed her information about a Secret Realm linked to Venerable Tianhe.
• Zheng Fa questioned Mu Qingyan about the Secret Realm, and the group documented its possible treasures, layout, dangers, and countermeasures in an archaeological plan.
• Zheng Fa organized a front-line exploration team and a technical support group, then turned a Heavenly Palace island into a Secret Realm training simulation.
• Zheng Fa told the disciples to drill until they were prepared and required them to write summaries afterward, prompting Xiao Yuying and Mu Qingyan to complain about his thoroughness.

As Zheng Fa prepared for Core Formation, he received insights from Xiao Yuying, Old Yuan, and Aunt-Master Huang, whose late husband had improved the Water-Fire Golden Core. Their records helped him develop a plan to replace the Divine Firmament Golden Core’s raw material with hydrogen ions, and he left to test it.

• Xiao Yuying gave Zheng Fa her Core Formation insights and explained how she had modified her cultivation technique.
• Old Yuan, Uncle-Master Pang, Senior Sister Yuan, and Aunt-Master Huang each brought Zheng Fa Core Formation notes, and Aunt-Master Huang explained that her late husband had improved the Water-Fire Golden Core so they could form upper-grade cores together.
• After studying the notes, Zheng Fa reasoned that Fusang Wood’s spiritual effect might enable hydrogen fusion and that hydrogen ions could replace the Divine Firmament Golden Core’s original Heavenly Dipper Qi.
• Zheng Fa joined Senior Sister Zhang, Senior Sister Yuan, and Xiao Yuying, then asked the sect to obtain the lightest Heavenly Dipper Qi so he could use a Communication Talisman rune to measure its mass and begin experimenting.

Zheng Fa measured Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Sha Qi, then used Primordial Firmament Qi to create a stronger Divine Firmament External Core and confirmed that Golden Core Engineering could produce a method suited to him. He joined Senior Sister Zhang and the others at Lake of Endless Silence to investigate Venerable Tianhe’s Secret Realm, where a warning from Mu Qingyan and the discovery of a long-running search by powerful sects left the expedition’s purpose uncertain.

• Zheng Fa measured the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Sha Qi and identified Primordial Firmament Qi as the substitute suited to his Golden Core method.
• Zheng Fa absorbed Primordial Firmament Qi through the Fusang Fruit, then refined a Lower-Grade Golden Core External Core with Madam Xuanhua.
• The Nine Mountains Sect agreed to pursue more Golden Core methods and buy Primordial Firmament Qi, while Senior Sister Zhang proposed exploring Lake of Endless Silence for Venerable Tianhe’s inheritance.
• Senior Sister Zhang and Xiao Yuying led the expedition to Lake of Endless Silence, where they encountered Wood Daoist and began surveying the lake with practiced coordination.
• Mu Qingyan privately warned Senior Sister Zhang that news of the Tianhe treasure might have been deliberately leaked, and Zheng Fa suspected the Demonic Sect or the Five Sects of Xuanwei.
• Two hidden figures watched the expedition enter the lake and revealed that the Five Sects of Xuanwei and major Demonic Sects had spent an epoch searching for someone through staged Secret Realms.

Senior Sister Zhang and Xiao Yuying led the Nine Mountains Sect group through Venerable Chengkong’s traps and into a Water Mansion, where their archaeological preparations helped them overcome its ancient restrictions. After they found treasures and a piece of Boundless Mountain, three Nascent Soul cultivators tried to seize their spoils, but Zheng Fa’s allies arrived to even the odds.

• Venerable Chengkong watched Senior Sister Zhang’s group break through his Water-Trigram Maze Formation after Xiao Yuying used her Water-Avoidance Spirit Pearl to find the way.
• Senior Sister Zhang’s group opened the Nine-Turn Water-Trigram Shield with nine spirit talismans, while Wood Daoist and the other followers remained outside struggling to reproduce them.
• Senior Sister Zhang’s group recorded and collected materials throughout the Water Mansion before entering its empty main hall and finding a Yellow-Skinned Gourd, a Jade Slip, and a sword-scarred mountain rock.
• Venerable Chengkong left after the rock showed no reaction, explaining that it was a remnant of Boundless Mountain and that the ruins’ treasures were genuine but potentially troublesome to possess.
• Three Nascent Soul cultivators confronted Senior Sister Zhang’s group outside the lake and demanded their treasures, but Xiao Yuying revealed that Old Yuan, Uncle-Master Pang, Aunt-Master Huang, and Madam Xuanhua had arrived as reinforcements.

Zheng Fa established a Merit-based system for distributing the expedition’s spoils, while Mu Qingyan’s discovery prompted Madam Xuanhua to consider joining Nine Mountains Sect. The team then uncovered that the Water Mansion had been forged recently, and Zheng Fa deciphered Venerable Tianhe’s message, which challenged his understanding of Tianhe and the Celestial River Method.

• Zheng Fa introduced Loot Distribution Principles that awarded Merit according to recorded contributions, and Mu Qingyan objected that he deserved more.
• Xiao Yuying told Madam Xuanhua about the distribution system, and Madam Xuanhua considered joining Nine Mountains Sect because of its promise and fairness.
• Senior Sister Zhang showed Zheng Fa and Xiao Yuying that the Water Mansion’s bricks used a recently developed technique, proving the site had been forged.
• Zheng Fa touched the mountain stone with his Divine Soul, and the Yin-Yang Fish Jade Pendant revealed a message and an incomplete Nine-Turn Golden Core Method from Venerable Tianhe.
• Zheng Fa read that Tianhe believed he had been wrong and warned successors not to imitate him, leaving Zheng Fa questioning why the Immortal Sects had abandoned the Celestial River Method.

Zheng Fa studied the Nine-Turn Golden Core Method, welcomed Old Han with Primordial Firmament Qi, and learned more about the Yellow-Skinned Gourd before entering seclusion to form his core. Six months later, golden radiance burst across the Nine Mountains as his Core Formation began.

• Zheng Fa told Uncle-Master Pang and the others that Venerable Tianhe's Nine-Turn Golden Core Method could strengthen a Golden Core after formation, and they agreed to keep its secrets restricted.
• Senior Sister Zhang reported that Tianhe Secret Realms repeatedly yielded mountain stones, while Zheng Fa decided the Celestial River True Method could be shared with the Setting-Sun Sword Immortal.
• Old Han gave a starving old woman a jujube tree for sheltering him, then delivered Primordial Firmament Qi to Zheng Fa and identified the Yellow-Skinned Gourd as resembling Venerable Tianhe's legendary Spiritual-Root Gourd.
• Zheng Fa entered seclusion to form his core, while Old Han spent the following months on Paradise Island and spoke with Zheng Shan about her exams and hopes of surpassing her brother.
• After six months, the Golden Crow cried out and a brilliant golden light burst over the Nine Mountains, announcing Zheng Fa's Core Formation.

After a year of alternating core formation and acupoint tempering, Zheng Fa formed an exceptionally powerful Golden Core and gained the Rainbow-Transformation Technique as an Innate Divine Ability. His breakthrough stunned observers and changed Venerable Chengkong’s plans for the Nine Mountains Sect and the Hundred Immortals Alliance.

• Zheng Fa condensed an Upper-Grade Golden Core after a year of cultivating and tempering his acupoints, greatly expanding his Divine Sense and transforming his state of being.
• Uncle-Master Pang, Senior Sister Yuan, Senior Sister Zhang, Xiao Yuying, and Madam Xuanhua witnessed the Golden Core’s power, while mortals across the Nine Mountains Realm saw its sunlike light.
• Venerable Chengkong urged Venerable Tongming to bring the Nine Mountains Sect back into the Hundred Immortals Alliance, but Zheng Fa’s dazzling breakthrough made him suggest that Tongming consult Zheng Fa and consider making him Alliance Leader.
• Zheng Fa’s Golden Core produced a heavenly palace phenomenon, and he revealed his new Innate Divine Ability, the Rainbow-Transformation Technique, which let him travel at the fastest possible speed in his environment.

Zheng Fa tested the Rainbow-Transformation Method, then considered a life-bound Dharma Treasure that could support his vision of sharing knowledge and borrowing minds through a spiritual Internet. After receiving Venerable Tongming’s message about a Hundred Immortals Assembly at the Nine Mountains Realm and Jiang Chengkong’s arrival, Zheng Fa returned to the modern world, where he learned Tang Lingwu had defended his businesses while he formed his core.

• Zheng Fa beat the Setting-Sun Sword Immortal to a distant mountain with the Rainbow-Transformation Method, then explained that its extreme speed was limited by his spiritual power and the Nine Mountains Realm.
• Uncle-Master Pang asked Zheng Fa to consider a life-bound Dharma Treasure, but Zheng Fa said he wanted one suited to his strengths and useful to the Nine Mountains Sect rather than focused on spell battles.
• Venerable Tongming’s Communication Talisman congratulated Zheng Fa on forming his Golden Core, asked to borrow the Nine Mountains Realm for a Hundred Immortals Assembly, and announced Jiang Chengkong would attend.
• Zheng Fa connected his desired Dharma Treasure to Senior Sister Zhang’s Communication Talisman research and imagined using a spiritual Internet to spread knowledge and borrow minds.
• At the modern-world Nursing Home, Zheng Fa told Old Man Bai and the others he had succeeded in Core Formation, then learned Tang Lingwu had confronted people who tried to curry favor while his businesses were vulnerable.

After Zheng Fa emerged from seclusion having formed a Golden Core, the Spirit Mountain Method transformed Rainbow Mountain into a spiritual, hidden blessed land and opened new possibilities for combining cultivation with technology. Team Leader Yang arrived as Zheng Fa planned a Particle Collider to study the material of his Golden Core and prepare to forge a Life-bound Dharma Treasure.

• Zheng Fa discovered that his Golden Core had changed the Spirit Mountain Method, connecting the Turtle-Snake Vein to his Divine Sense and letting him influence Rainbow Mountain’s spiritual energy and terrain.
• Team Leader Yang and Cheng Yun saw Rainbow Mountain glowing with purple clouds, then learned that it had vanished from radar and other detection methods.
• Zheng Fa found that a talisman diagram could shield electromagnetic fields from spiritual energy and proposed using Thunder Method to accelerate particles in a Particle Collider.
• Zheng Fa explained that he needed to study the spiritual material formed during Core Formation before he could design and forge a Life-bound Dharma Treasure.
• Team Leader Yang told Cheng Yun that the higher-ups wanted to show Zheng Fa their sincerity and would spare no cost on the Particle Collider.
• Team Leader Yang and Cheng Yun entered the Nursing Home, where Old Man Bai said the Particle Collider could save money, and Team Leader Yang insisted that no expense be spared.

After returning to the modern world, Zheng Fa reunited with his companions, discussed research and resources, and decided to open the Nine Mountains Realm to limited outside trade by hosting the Hundred Immortals Assembly. He honored Tang Lingwu and the other authors by placing the Nine Mountains Agricultural Canon in the Hall of Worthies, where Qian True Person immediately began studying it.

• Group Leader Yang and Old Man Bai told Zheng Fa that Core Formation had made him seem more composed and distant, and Old Man Bai reassured him that changing did not mean he had ceased to be himself.
• Zheng Fa and Group Leader Yang agreed to build a Particle Collider in phases, combining modern experiments with Zheng Fa's Thunder Method, while Cheng Yun shared optimized Golden Core methods and research.
• Elder Hou presented the Nine Mountains Agricultural Canon, a set of spiritual agriculture textbooks compiled under Tang Lingwu's direction, and Zheng Fa warmly welcomed the work.
• Zheng Fa told Senior Sister Zhang and Uncle-Master Pang that he would open the Nine Mountains Realm to limited trade, rent a venue to the Hundred Immortals Alliance for its assembly, and hold an auction of External Cores and Dharma Treasures.
• Venerable Tongming learned that Zheng Fa had agreed to host the assembly for payment, while Jiang Chengkong remained preoccupied with a Spirit Bamboo that the Azure Wood Sect and Hundred Herbs Sect could not save.
• Zheng Fa placed a sculpture honoring the Nine Mountains Agricultural Canon and its authors in the Hall of Worthies, and Qian True Person praised the book after reading it.

Zheng Fa invited Madam Xuanhua to join the Nine Mountains Sect and showed her the sect’s Golden Core Engineering plans and secret experimental designs, which convinced her she had made the right choice. Meanwhile, Venerable Chengkong led the Hundred Immortals Alliance toward the Nine Mountains Sect, intending to bring Zheng Fa back to the Supreme Dao while relying on a Pure Tranquility Bamboo to restrain the Great Freedom Demon Cult.

• Senior Sister Zhang and Zheng Fa discussed using the eleven External Core methods to encourage Madam Xuanhua to work with the Nine Mountains Sect, while noting that her independence from major powers made her valuable.
• Madam Xuanhua asked to become a Nine Mountains Sect elder because she wanted access to Golden Core Engineering, and Zheng Fa showed her the eleven methods and explained the sect’s taxes.
• Zheng Fa took Madam Xuanhua to a secret laboratory and shared plans for experimental instruments and practical inventions, explaining that the sect’s artifact forging aimed to help people live better.
• After studying the plans for more than half a month, Madam Xuanhua decided she had not lost by joining the Nine Mountains Sect and told Xiao Yuying she should have joined earlier.
• Venerable Chengkong reprimanded Venerable Tongming for begrudging the Nine Mountains Sect’s demands and revealed that he planned to bring Zheng Fa back to the Supreme Dao.
• Venerable Chengkong identified his Pure Tranquility Bamboo as a secret treasure effective against the Great Freedom Demon Cult and warned that failure would leave them facing the need to flee.

Venerable Chengkong used the Pure Tranquility Bamboo to repel the Great Freedom Demon Cult’s attack on Bright Mountain and kill Blood River Ancestor. After Zheng Fa welcomed the Hundred Immortals Alliance to the Nine Mountains Realm, its members were struck by how Qian Qi had changed since joining the sect and by the new crops he had cultivated.

• Venerable Chengkong wielded the Pure Tranquility Bamboo to clear the blood clouds and black smoke over Bright Mountain, killing Blood River Ancestor as the remaining attackers fled.
• Zheng Fa intercepted the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s fleet and invited its leaders to the Nine Mountains Realm, where Venerable Tongming said the Hundred Immortals Assembly would begin in three days.
• Zheng Fa introduced Qian True Person as a respected agricultural scholar after Qian Qi rushed in with news of a new crop, and the Hundred Immortals Alliance members treated him courteously.
• Sect Master Yu recognized Qian Qi as a former Thousand Grain Sect Marketplace steward and expressed surprise at his transformation and the honor Zheng Fa showed him.
• Sun Daoyu served the guests crops grown by Qian Qi, prompting Sect Master Yu to question whether he had mistaken Qian Qi and Sun Daoyu to say that meeting Zheng Fa changed people.

Zheng Fa’s broad entrance examination impressed Venerable Tongming and the Hundred Immortals Alliance disciples, while Zheng Fa mourned Gao Yuan and welcomed his younger sister into the Nine Mountains Sect. The chapter ended with Zheng Fa reaffirming his goal of making cultivators serve the world and earn its gratitude.

• Sun Daoyu served Thunder Peppers to Venerable Tongming and the other guests, and Sect Master Yu praised the Nine Mountains Sect’s spirit farming and Zheng Fa’s abilities.
• Uncle-Master Pang told the visitors that Zheng Fa was busy seeing students off to their examinations, and Venerable Tongming asked to observe the entrance tests.
• Zhao Jingfan shared wine with Zheng Fa, mourned Gao Yuan, and described the deaths and losses among the Zhao family and its followers.
• Zheng Fa reread Gao Yuan’s letter through the night before the Nine Mountains Sect held entrance examinations for tens of thousands of students.
• Venerable Tongming and Hundred Immortals Alliance disciples watched the examinations and were astonished by the students’ education and access to Dao-Entry Martial Arts.
• The Nine Mountains Sect admitted three hundred students, including Zheng Shan, and Zheng Fa told Venerable Tongming that his sect’s cultivators were different from those of the Xuanwei Realm.

Venerable Chengkong offered Zheng Fa leadership of the Hundred Immortals Alliance and a path into the Supreme Dao, but Zheng Fa refused to protect the Nine Mountains Realm’s independence. As the Hundred Immortals Assembly neared its end, two Nine Mountains Sect disciples formed Upper-Grade Golden Cores during the final match, stealing attention from the Alliance’s competitors.

• Venerable Chengkong invited Zheng Fa to lead the Hundred Immortals Alliance, with Venerable Tongming willing to yield the position, but Zheng Fa declined to avoid risking the Nine Mountains Realm in the fight against the Great Freedom Demon Cult.
• Zheng Fa let Zheng Shan choose whether to accept Uncle-Master Pang or the Setting-Sun Sword Immortal, Old Han, as her master.
• Zhou Ganyuan showed Zheng Fa his Gold-Water Thunder Talisman theory, and Zheng Fa praised his research and promised him Merit.
• Madam Xuanhua and the Golden Core Engineering disciples verified two improved Golden Core methods, which Zheng Fa then assigned to the disciples for further study.
• During the Hundred Immortals Assembly’s final Golden Core match, a Nine Mountains Sect disciple formed an Upper-Grade Golden Core, and another breakthrough soon followed, drawing attention away from the contest.

The Nine Mountains Sect celebrated fourteen new Golden Core cultivators, drawing astonished visitors who learned that its Golden Core Engineering had helped produce many Upper-Grade Golden Cores. Zheng Fa then invited them to an auction on Economic Development Island, and rumors linking External Cores to Golden Core Engineering brought even the initially dismissive guests to attend.

• Venerable Tongming and the visiting Nascent Soul cultivators watched fourteen Nine Mountains Sect disciples form Golden Cores, while Zheng Fa privately considered the results below his expectations.
• The Nine Mountains Sect held a ceremony for the new Golden Cores, where Sun Daoyu and six other Upper-Grade cultivators received identity tokens and congratulations; Zheng Fa reassured a Mid-Grade cultivator that his Core Formation could be remedied.
• Zheng Fa invited the visitors to the Economic Development Island marketplace and auction, but they initially dismissed the listed items as unimpressive.
• Venerable Tongming overheard Hundred Immortals Alliance disciples claim that Golden Core Engineering and External Cores had helped the Nine Mountains Sect disciples form Upper-Grade Golden Cores.
• Three days later, Venerable Tongming found the previously uninterested Nascent Soul cultivators arriving at the auction, including Venerable Chengkong.