Chapter Summaries

Lin Fan reflected on the limits of his temporary Cave Heaven Realm combat power and chose to trust Fan Jianqiang when he left the sect. As he cultivated and prepared for an impending crisis, Lin Fan recognized that the Moon Embracing Sect would need more resources and Spirit Mountains to prosper.

• Lin Fan realized his combat power matched the Cave Heaven Realm, but his body remained weaker because he had not opened a physical Cave Heaven.
• Fan Jianqiang left the mountain to check the feng shui, while Murong Pipa and Qiu Yongqin envied his status and questioned his use of time.
• Wu Xingyun told Lin Fan that Fan Jianqiang had gone down the mountain and offered to follow him, but Lin Fan refused and chose to trust him.
• Lin Fan considered the different loyalty levels of Xiao Ling'er and Fan Jianqiang, then decided to keep cultivating while the elders prepared for the coming crisis.
• Lin Fan concluded that the sect needed more resources and Spirit Fields, and planned to find a way to obtain ten or eight Spirit Mountains.

As rival forces gathered around Moon Embracing Sect, Lin Fan prepared the sect for an impending attack while the Liu Family chose to watch and assess its strength. In a thunderstorm, an unidentified attacker finally rushed toward the mountain gate.

• The Liu Family Patriarch ordered Liu Xun to take two elders to Moon Embracing Sect, observe the situation, and befriend the sect if it proved strong.
• Lin Fan noticed that an attack was likely soon, kept the five elders at the sect, and ordered the protective formation to remain active.
• Several days later, Xiao Ling'er had advanced to Core Condensation Realm Eighth Level, while Fan Jianqiang remained at First Level on the surface and Lin Fan neared Mysterious Origin Realm Third Level.
• A group of cultivators watched Moon Embracing Sect from the darkness and discussed taking Xiao Ling'er, but hesitated after sensing other forces nearby, including the Demon Race.
• During a thunderclap, one figure transformed into black light and charged toward Moon Embracing Sect's mountain gate.

Liu Xun watched rival factions approach the Moon Embracing Sect, but his elders held him back as heavenly lightning devastated the attackers. Wu Xingyun intercepted the surviving, wounded Pointing Profound Realm cultivator and unleashed a lethal sword technique, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• Liu Xun’s elders explained that the people approaching the Moon Embracing Sect were likely too reckless to notice the factions hidden nearby, and predicted they would die.
• Heavenly lightning struck the attackers, killing most of them and badly injuring their first-layer Pointing Profound Realm leader.
• Wu Xingyun stopped Su Xinghai from taking on the first wave and flew down the mountain to face the wounded cultivator herself.
• The Pointing Profound Realm cultivator attacked Wu Xingyun with a giant hand formed from Profound Origin power and laws.
• Wu Xingyun spat essence blood onto her sword, used Sky-Piercing Annihilation to break through his attack, and launched a counterattack.

Wu Xingyun used the Eight Character Blood Kill Sword Technique to kill a Fifth Realm attacker, but the technique consumed her vital essence and threatened her foundation. As the assault on Moon Embracing Sect escalated, Su Xinghai confronted a Pointing Profound Realm third-layer cultivator and killed him after the opponent inexplicably froze.

• Wu Xingyun instantly killed a Fifth Realm cultivator with her blood-red sword, making the watching attackers reconsider storming Moon Embracing Sect.
• Liang Danxia explained to Xiao Ling'er that Wu Xingyun's Eight Character Blood Kill Sword Technique consumed vital essence and could damage her cultivation foundation.
• A Pointing Profound Realm third-layer cultivator demanded that the sect hand over Xiao Ling'er and threatened to destroy Moon Embracing Sect.
• Su Xinghai stepped beside Wu Xingyun and revealed that he had recently broken through using a Pointing Profound Pill.
• The Cloud Heaven Valley elder attacked Su Xinghai but suddenly paused during their clash, allowing Su Xinghai to kill him and take his valuables.

Su Xinghai unexpectedly killed a Cloud Heaven Valley elder after the man froze mid-attack, while Lin Fan recognized that Fan Jianqiang’s hidden formations had likely helped the Moon Embracing Sect. A sudden storm of precise lightning struck the sect’s enemies, leaving the attackers fleeing and the sect’s immediate fate uncertain.

• Su Xinghai killed his opponent in an instant, baffling Liu Xun, the Liu Family elders, and Su Xinghai himself.
• Wu Xingyun signaled Su Xinghai to conceal his confusion, and he challenged the remaining attackers while they hesitated.
• Chen Erzhu, Li Changshou, and Duan Qingyao debated whether the slain elder had deliberately sought death, while Lin Fan privately recognized Gou Sheng’s likely role.
• Lin Fan reassured the others that the sect might survive the attack, but thunder and widespread lightning strikes interrupted him and devastated the attackers.
• Pointing Profound Realm cultivators fled the mountain, fearing the sect’s strange defenses and the lightning that had struck even those hiding nearby.

After bizarre lightning strikes and sudden attacks drove most of the intruders away from Moon Embracing Sect, Liu Xun realized his father had predicted the situation better than he understood it. As the remaining feathered beasts prepared to attack, Liu Xun ordered his group to stop them and befriend Moon Embracing Sect.

• Old Xu kicked apart a boulder, and his elder brother crushed his head before dying from the Dao Heart Oath that bound them.
• Several intruders suddenly attacked their companions, creating distrust and prompting most groups to retreat from Moon Embracing Sect.
• Liu Xun watched the retreating groups and wondered whether he was useless for failing to understand how Moon Embracing Sect had gained the upper hand.
• An elder warned Liu Xun that the feathered beasts were about to attack.
• Liu Xun ordered his group to take down the feathered beasts and befriend Moon Embracing Sect.

The Liu Family rescued Su Xinghai and Wu Xingyun from attackers, then met with Lin Fan to propose an alliance with the Moon Embracing Sect. Lin Fan welcomed their support cautiously, and the chapter ended with Liu Xun asking whether the sect would cooperate with the Liu Family.

• Liu Xun and two Liu Family elders killed the beasts attacking Su Xinghai and Wu Xingyun, then declared the Moon Embracing Sect an ally of the Liu Family.
• Lin Fan judged the Liu Family's arrival auspicious and told the First Elder and Second Elder to invite them up the mountain.
• Liu Xun apologized for arriving late, while Lin Fan thanked him and promised the Moon Embracing Sect would help the Liu Family if it ever faced trouble.
• Liu Xun tried to prompt Lin Fan to discuss the purpose of his visit, but Lin Fan repeatedly redirected their conversation.
• Liu Xun proposed that the Liu Family and Moon Embracing Sect cooperate and support one another.

Liu Xun proposed cooperation between the Liu Family and the Moon Embracing Sect, with the Liu Family offering protection and spirit herbs in exchange for pills. Lin Fan agreed while quietly setting limits on what the sect would sell, and Liu Xun accepted the arrangement expecting high-quality pills.

• Liu Xun cited Xiao Ling'er’s first-place finish and Fan Jianqiang’s second-place finish at the Alchemy Tournament as reasons the Liu Family wanted to cooperate with the Moon Embracing Sect.
• Fan Jianqiang downplayed his alchemy ability as luck and left Xiao Ling'er feeling frustrated that he had pushed the responsibility onto her.
• Lin Fan agreed to sell the Liu Family surplus pills but warned that Ninth Grade pills would be rare and that the sect had limited spirit herbs.
• Liu Xun accepted Lin Fan’s conditions and offered to provide spirit herbs on credit, with the cost deducted from purchases of pills graded Seventh Grade or higher.

Lin Fan and Liu Xun finalized cooperation between the Moon Embracing Sect and the Liu Family, binding their agreement with a Dao Heart Oath. After Xiao Ling'er prepared a list of herbs for the Liu Family to supply, she confessed she had listed ingredients for modern pill formulas despite needing fewer herbs for her ancient formulas, and Lin Fan quietly accepted the small profit.

• Lin Fan agreed with Liu Xun that the Liu Family would support the Moon Embracing Sect when possible, and both sides established a Dao Heart Oath forbidding their people from killing one another.
• The five elders relaxed after the oath was made, and Lin Fan sent the injured First Elder and Second Elder away to recover.
• Xiao Ling'er prepared a list of herbs for Liu Xun, who was surprised to see ingredients for Cave Heaven Pills and learned she planned to practice refining them.
• Lin Fan agreed that the Liu Family would cover the cost of Xiao Ling'er's practice materials and the herbs needed to heal the two elders.
• After Liu Xun left, Xiao Ling'er admitted she had listed modern-formula ingredients even though her ancient formulas required fewer herbs, and Lin Fan reassured her and sent her to rest.

Liu Xun delivered the requested supplies to Lin Fan and tried to learn how the lightning had struck the Moon Embracing Sect's enemies, but Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang both blamed the sect's feng shui. As attacks continued, Xiao Ling'er’s pill production and the elders’ battle experience helped the sect grow stronger.

• Liu Xun brought Lin Fan spiritual herbs, materials, and a Sound Transmission Jade Talisman, then asked about the lightning that had struck the attackers.
• Lin Fan claimed the sect’s forebears or its feng shui had caused the lightning, and Fan Jianqiang gave Liu Xun the same explanation.
• Lin Fan offered to divide the herbs between Xiao Ling'er and Fan Jianqiang, but Fan Jianqiang insisted Xiao Ling'er should receive them all.
• The Moon Embracing Sect continued to face frequent provocations and fights, while Xiao Ling'er produced plentiful pills, including rare healing pills for Su Xinghai and Wu Xingyun.
• The elders used their pill supplies to recover from battles and improve their strength through continued fighting.

Lin Fan and the Moon Embracing Sect grew stronger as Xiao Ling'er produced pills for their partnership with the Liu Family. After contacting Liu Xun to collect the first batch, Lin Fan revealed nearly three hundred high-quality pills, leaving the Liu Family eagerly watching as he brought out two jade bottles.

• The Moon Embracing Sect's elders, Lin Fan, Xiao Ling'er, and Fan Jianqiang advanced rapidly, while Lin Fan hid most of his cultivation gains from others.
• Lin Fan contacted Liu Xun and told him the first batch of pills was ready for collection.
• Liu Xun hurried to the Moon Embracing Sect with two elders and asked how many pills Lin Fan had prepared.
• Lin Fan said there were nearly three hundred Core Condensation Pills and Profound Origin Pills, mostly Seventh and Eighth Grade, and Liu Xun excitedly praised the unexpected quantity and quality.
• Lin Fan took out two jade bottles as Liu Xun and the accompanying elders fixed their attention on them.

Lin Fan traded high-quality pills and medicinal materials with Liu Xun, then realized the Moon Embracing Sect’s repeated crises might be caused by the Protagonist Templates in its ranks. He left the chapter numb at the thought that the sect had become a Newbie Village for both Xiao Ling'er and Fan Jianqiang.

• Liu Xun praised the pills and arranged for the Liu Family to supply spiritual herbs and buy surplus Cave Heaven Pills and Strengthen Foundation and Cultivate Origin pills.
• Lin Fan declined the Liu Family’s offer to intervene in a new battle, choosing to let the sect face the crisis as training.
• Su Xinghai defeated his opponent, who escaped using a blood-escape secret art after losing a leg.
• Liu Xun questioned why the Moon Embracing Sect kept facing attacks, and Lin Fan considered whether its feng shui was to blame.
• Lin Fan concluded that Xiao Ling'er and Fan Jianqiang’s Protagonist Templates attracted crises that could destroy their Newbie Village, leaving him numb.

Lin Fan panicked after realizing that his protagonist-template disciples could make the sect’s recurring crises far more dangerous, but Liu Xun promised the Liu Family would install a protective formation. Lin Fan planned to expand Moon Embracing Sect before the formation was built and began suspecting Bright Moon Sect had caused his sect’s decline.

• Lin Fan realized that the annual and decade-long crises could become much more dangerous with multiple protagonist-template disciples, so he decided to prepare well in advance.
• Liu Xun offered to have the Liu Family build a sect-protecting formation that could delay ordinary Sixth Realm cultivators until help arrived, and Lin Fan immediately accepted.
• After Liu Xun left, Lin Fan decided to seize the opportunity to expand Moon Embracing Sect’s territory and claim more Spirit Mountains before the formation was installed.
• Lin Fan worried that conflict involving his protagonist-template disciples could endanger Moon Embracing Sect, so he resolved to plan carefully and avoid fighting personally if possible.
• Lin Fan recalled Moon Embracing Sect’s former ten thousand Spirit Mountains and suspected that Bright Moon Sect had played a role in the sect’s decline.

Lin Fan planned to expand Moon Embracing Sect’s territory without violating its strict rules against reckless warfare. He set his sights on the alliance of Eight Swords Sect, Peach Blossom Sect, and Golden Eagle Sect, and proposed recreating a past incident to make them fight each other.

• Lin Fan worried that old enemies might target Moon Embracing Sect as it grew, then summoned the five elders to discuss matters.
• Liu Xun confessed to his father that he had promised Moon Embracing Sect a defensive formation, and the Liu Family Patriarch agreed to provide one at Liu Xun’s expense.
• Li Changshou and the elders discussed expansion but doubted they could attack other sects while obeying Lin Fan’s strict rules.
• Lin Fan rejected buying Spirit Mountains and proposed using the strategy of driving the tiger to devour the wolf.
• Lin Fan learned that Eight Swords Sect, Peach Blossom Sect, and Golden Eagle Sect had allied and controlled twenty-seven neighboring Spirit Mountains.
• Lin Fan told the elders to recreate the rainy-night incident from a month earlier, this time targeting the three allied sects.

Lin Fan used a disguised alchemist and staged rumors about Peach Blossom Sect buying two fifth grade Pointing Profound Pills to draw rogue cultivators toward the sect. After the alchemist’s sale of Seventh-Grade Cave Heaven Pills made the rumors more convincing, Pointing Profound Realm rogues began to stir.

• Wu Xingyun understood Lin Fan’s plan to use valuable treasures and public opinion to incite rogue cultivators against the three sects.
• Jiang Tao, worried that Moon Embracing Sect had grown stronger, sent two elders to Hongwu Immortal City to buy two fifth grade Pointing Profound Pills on credit at a premium.
• Lin Fan arranged for a disguised alchemist to meet the Peach Blossom Sect elders, then spread rumors that the sect had bought the pills to prepare Jiang Tao for a breakthrough.
• The rumors spread, but most cultivators hesitated to attack Peach Blossom Sect because of its size and defenses.
• The disguised alchemist sold several Seventh-Grade Cave Heaven Pills in Hongwu Immortal City, lending the rumors credibility and stirring Pointing Profound Realm rogue cultivators into action.

Rogue Cultivators attacked Peach Blossom Sect after learning Jiang Tao possessed a Pointing Profound Pill, and the assault spread to the allied Golden Eagle Sect and Eight Swords Sect. Su Xinghai revealed that his apparent defeat had been staged and reported to Lin Fan that the tiger had come down the mountain.

• A burly Pointing Profound Realm cultivator demanded Peach Blossom Sect hand over its Pointing Profound Pills and attacked its protective formation.
• Peach Blossom Sect’s elders repelled the burly man, who fled after they exposed his unstable cultivation.
• More than ten Pointing Profound Realm cultivators joined forces, shattered Peach Blossom Sect’s formation, and began slaughtering its elders.
• Elders from the Golden Eagle Sect and Eight Swords Sect arrived as reinforcements, but the attackers turned on them and overwhelmed all three sects.
• Su Xinghai, who had faked his injuries and returned in disguise, watched the battle and told Lin Fan that the tiger had come down the mountain.

Lin Fan sent the Moon Embracing Sect elders to claim the Spirit Mountains after Su Xinghai reported that rogue cultivators had destroyed and looted the Peach Blossom Sect. The chapter ended with the elders planting both Moon Embracing Sect and Liu Family flags to deter rivals from challenging their claim.

• Lin Fan told Wu Xingyun and the other elders to prioritize survival while preparing to act.
• Su Xinghai watched as Fifth Realm cultivators slaughtered the Peach Blossom Sect and plundered its treasures.
• Jiang Tao confronted the attackers but was killed before he could resist, and the cultivators discovered his storage bag held no Pointing Profound Pill.
• The attackers admitted they had mainly targeted the resources of the three sects, then split up to destroy the Eight Swords Sect and Golden Eagle Sect.
• Su Xinghai contacted Lin Fan, who led the elders to plant Moon Embracing Sect and Liu Family flags on the Spirit Mountains.

Moon Embracing Sect and the Liu Family seized the Peach Blossom Sect, Golden Eagle Sect, and Eight Swords Sect territories, bringing their holdings to twenty-five Spirit Mountains. Lin Fan then summoned Liu Xun with news of rare pills, securing the Liu Family’s help in setting up formations to defend the new territory.

• Li Changshou claimed the Peach Blossom Sect’s territory for Moon Embracing Sect and the Liu Family while nearby cultivators watched without challenging them.
• Su Xinghai led the attack that wiped out the Eight Swords Sect, then planted the Liu Family’s flag; Wu Xingyun captured six Spirit Mountains from the Golden Eagle Sect’s territory.
• Lin Fan calculated that the three sects’ former holdings gave Moon Embracing Sect twenty-five Spirit Mountains and assigned the Fourth Elder to negotiate exchanges with neighboring sects.
• Lin Fan contacted Liu Xun and told him Xiao Ling'er had refined six eighth-grade Cave Heaven Pills.
• Liu Xun inspected the pills and agreed to set up the formation for Moon Embracing Sect.

Lin Fan maneuvered Liu Xun and the Liu Family into helping Moon Embracing Sect build a vast protective formation over the newly acquired territory. Liu Xun returned to his father with news of Moon Embracing Sect’s valuable pills, while the formation’s cost remained unresolved.

• Liu Xun agreed to begin building a protective formation, then learned that Moon Embracing Sect and the Liu Family had gained most of the territories of three destroyed sects.
• Lin Fan argued that the alliance’s benefits justified expanding the formation to cover twenty-five Spirit Mountains, leaving the Seventh Elder and Liu Xun alarmed by the scale and expense.
• Liu Xun proposed returning for more materials while the two Elders began the work, and they reluctantly agreed after Lin Fan pressed them to honor the alliance.
• Liu Xun knelt before the Patriarch of the Liu Family and reported that Moon Embracing Sect had Ninth Grade Core Condensation Pills, Profound Origin Pills, and six Eighth Grade Cave Heaven Pills.
• The Patriarch of the Liu Family rejoiced at the news and praised his judgment of Moon Embracing Sect.

The Liu Family Patriarch decided to honor Liu Xun’s promise and invest heavily in Moon Embracing Sect by building its protective formation. After Lin Fan activated it around the sect’s twenty-five connected Spirit Mountains, neighboring cultivators discussed Moon Embracing Sect’s sudden rise and the threat from Spirit Sword Sect.

• Liu Xun told the Liu Family Patriarch that Moon Embracing Sect had expanded to twenty-five Spirit Mountains after Liu Xun had promised to build it a protective formation.
• The Patriarch ordered Liu Xun to take materials and workers to Moon Embracing Sect, deciding to go all-in on the investment.
• Moon Embracing Sect’s elders connected its twenty-five Spirit Mountains into one continuous territory, while Liu Xun’s team installed the formation.
• Lin Fan activated the formation, which could hold back Sixth Realm experts temporarily and protect the sect from intruders without tokens.
• Liu Xun proposed adding a teleportation formation, and Lin Fan accepted while planning to remove its Origin Stones when it was not in use.
• Cultivators from neighboring sects discussed Moon Embracing Sect’s rise and grew concerned about Spirit Sword Sect’s influence.