Chapter Summaries

Li Qi followed Lei Fang through East Isle’s underwater merfolk settlement and observed how its people lived and cultivated pearls. After Lei Fang took his words to heart and introduced herself, Li Qi noticed that the merfolk all seemed to share the same occupation and wondered who collected rent from them.

• Li Qi used an Eye Bug to see in the deep sea as Lei Fang guided him toward the merfolk settlement on East Isle.
• Li Qi asked to visit Lei Fang’s home, and his remarks about the value of ordinary traditions prompted her to return his lamp payment.
• Lei Fang introduced herself by name and led Li Qi and Old Ma toward her home without making a formal welcome.
• Li Qi observed merfolk living in interconnected cliffside caves and noticed that nearly all of them cultivated pearls.
• Lei Fang told her parents that Li Qi had hired her as a guide and that the payment covered the month’s rent, leading Li Qi to wonder who charged the merfolk.

Li Qi explored the merfolk district of East Isle with Lei Fang and learned how its tenants, pearl production, and other races fit into the island’s social system. When Lei Fang described the arrangement as an “ecological niche,” Li Qi realized the Eastern Sea followed the Way of Evolution and wondered whether it could help him reconcile conflicting Dao Paths, just as someone approached.

• Lei Fang introduced Li Qi to her family, and he learned that her household struggled under heavy rent and East Isle taxes.
• Lei Fang explained that tenants paid fixed rent and surrendered seventy percent of their harvest, while relying on pearl clams supplied by Mother Clam.
• Lei Fang showed Li Qi the lower district and explained how merfolk cultivated Bright Pearls for the honored people, who supplied them to the Conch Folk’s Baking Furnace.
• Lei Fang said the races occupied different social functions according to an ecological niche, prompting Li Qi to identify the Eastern Sea’s system as the Way of Evolution.
• Li Qi concluded that True Dragons might be perfect organisms able to adapt to conflicting Dao Paths, then Lei Fang warned him that someone was approaching.

Li Qi investigated the merfolk of East Isle and met Baizhu Zhaoyue, whose family had ancient ties to the shaman Ju Yu Clan. Suspecting Lei Fang had been sent to approach him, Li Qi used demonic qi to question her and learned that someone from the Baizhu Family had instructed her to find him.

• Li Qi left his thoughts after Lei Fang warned that a distinguished person was approaching, then swam toward the visitor instead of avoiding him.
• Li Qi met Baizhu Zhaoyue, who explained that his family’s surname came from the ancient Ju Yu Clan and that his ancestors had supplied pearls.
• Li Qi introduced himself as a disciple of Wushen Mountain and learned that Baizhu Zhaoyue’s residence was nearby before the merman hurried away on his Sea Ox.
• Li Qi questioned Lei Fang’s sudden fear and used demonic qi to make her reveal that people from the Baizhu Family had sent her to find him.
• Li Qi told Lei Fang to flee at least five hundred li from East Isle, follow it for three days, and return to him while he set out to find whoever was behind the plan.

Li Qi used demonic methods to sharpen his senses, confirmed Lei Fang was still under demonic influence, and began searching the pearl fields for the Flood Dragon’s aura. Meanwhile, a Buddha Child persuaded a black Flood Dragon to help lure Li Qi into a trap, claiming he understood how Li Qi would respond.

• Li Qi explained the Four Demons and used Heavenly Demon methods to heighten his perception, though he rejected the demonic path’s solipsistic beliefs.
• Li Qi followed Lei Fang, confirmed her consciousness remained controlled by demonic thoughts, and found no other aura on her.
• Li Qi searched the pearl fields for clues related to the Bai Pearl household and the Flood Dragon’s aura.
• A Buddha Child offered the black Flood Dragon a safer water journey in exchange for helping him target Li Qi.
• The black Flood Dragon questioned the Buddha Child’s flawed plan, but the monk insisted Li Qi’s curiosity about the Reason Way and the Way of Evolution would draw him in.
• The Buddha Child claimed he knew every one of Li Qi’s thoughts because he understood Li Qi as he understood himself.

Li Qi investigated the Baizhu Family’s pearl-farming residence and found that its Mother Clams were kept through illusion arrays, with their unusual cultivation apparently tied to Flood Dragon Qi. After Shen Shuibi helped him bypass the residence’s array, he reached its heart and found a fresh, bloodstained dragon scale beside a seventh-rank merfolk.

• Li Qi learned that the Baizhu Family had grown wealthy through pearl cultivation and that its East Isle branch was overseen by a seventh-rank cultivator.
• Li Qi entered the Baizhu Family residence unnoticed and discovered its elaborate combined artifact construction and numerous Mother Clams producing pearls and spawn.
• Li Qi suspected that Dragon Qi was involved in the creation of Mother Clams and examined the array protecting them.
• Li Qi contacted Shen Shuibi, who identified how to disrupt the array, and he slipped through without alerting its operators.
• Li Qi reached the residence’s heart, where he found a fresh, bloodstained dragon scale beside a seventh-rank merfolk who noticed him.

Li Qi infiltrated the Baizhu family’s secret residence, discovered that Tianhong Jun’s Dragon Qi was forcing pearl clams to mature at the cost of their lives, and questioned a merman about the Flood Dragon called the Gentleman. He suspected someone was using Tianhong Jun to lure him into a trap, and the chapter left him eager to draw out the true dragon behind the scheme.

• Li Qi broke through the Pearl Formation and confronted a seventh-rank merman, who recognized him as the outsider Tianhong Jun had ordered watched.
• Li Qi examined the Flood Dragon scale and found that its Dragon Qi was forcing pearl clams to become Mother Clams while shortening their lives and twisting their Dao Paths.
• Li Qi asked the merman about the Gentleman, and the merman explained that Tianhong Jun was a powerful, unpredictable Flood Dragon known for both generosity and sudden cruelty.
• After hearing about Tianhong Jun, Li Qi suspected someone was directing him and using the situation to bait Li Qi with clues about the Reason Way, the Spirit Dao, and Witchcraft Silkworm evolution.
• Li Qi concluded that a true dragon might be behind the trap and resolved to draw it out.

Li Qi negotiated with the Baizhu family for their method of converting Dragon Qi, offering a Witchcraft and Poison Arts technique in exchange. After the deal was completed, he left with their Dragon Qi strengthening method and a dragon scale from Tianhong Jun.

• Li Qi suspected the Buddhist sect was behind the Flood Dragon plot and asked the seventh-rank merman to relay his offer to the Baizhu family.
• A projection of a fifth-rank Demon Dragon arrived, and Li Qi demonstrated his shaman abilities while explaining the proposed exchange.
• The Demon Dragon ordered Baizhu Yingbo to learn from Li Qi, and Baizhu Yingbo accepted the Witchcraft and Poison Arts method for his family.
• Li Qi gave the Baizhu family a universal method for inducing mutations in venomous insects, while they handed over their Dragon Qi conversion technique and a scale bearing Tianhong Jun's blood.
• Li Qi left the underwater region after a day, and Lei Fang had returned home safely without him revealing her presence.

Li Qi reflected on how the Ninth Rank Classification Method might reveal common ground between Dao Paths and help explain the Martial Dao, though he lacked evidence for his theory. After reaching East Isle’s bustling upper level, he decided to rest and sample local seafood while waiting for the Reason Way cultivators to approach him.

• Li Qi considered whether the Ninth Rank Classification Method could expose a shared foundation among Dao Paths and help stabilize his own Ultimate Great Dao.
• Li Qi speculated that the Martial Dao might reach an exceptionally high essence after condensing Martial Way Divine Intent, but acknowledged that he could not yet prove it.
• Li Qi reached East Isle’s upper level on Old Ma and observed how its luxurious tourist districts depended on the labor and goods of the lower level.
• Li Qi decided to wait for the Reason Way people to find him and spend a few days resting, partly because he wanted to try East Sea seafood.
• A sailor enthusiastically offered Li Qi fresh sea shrimp roe for sale.

Li Qi bought rare seafood in East Isle, enjoyed a meal that let him experience the swordfish’s Sword Qi, and reflected on his assumptions about the Eastern Sea. Wang Dun found him afterward and offered him passage on a Reason Way treasure ship, leaving Li Qi ready to visit the association and exchange knowledge.

• Li Qi bought unusual seafood from a sailor, paying with samples of his tableware after learning about the Eastern Sea’s pearl currency.
• Li Qi slapped himself after recognizing that he had begun to look down on the Eastern Sea as a barbarian backwater.
• Li Qi had a chef prepare the seafood and ate swordfish whose scattered Sword Qi gave him a harmless chance to practice against it while cultivating.
• Wang Dun found Li Qi at the tavern and asked about his recent trip beneath the sea.
• Wang Dun offered Li Qi a place aboard a Fifth Rank mechanical treasure ship, and Li Qi accepted and proposed that they go to the association.

Li Qi accepted Wang Dun’s invitation to join his society and learned how the Reason Way’s magical-artifact bodies worked. As they traveled toward the society, Wang Dun explained that his path pursued observable laws, or reason, rather than the intangible Dao.

• Wang Dun explained that a fortune-telling monk had helped him find Li Qi after accurately predicting where he would be eating a six-hundred-year-old swordfish.
• Li Qi examined Wang Dun’s mostly mechanical body and questioned whether replacing flesh and bone harmed its natural inner world.
• Wang Dun lifted a massive treasure ship with one arm, then revealed that his magical-artifact body had martial techniques built into its components.
• Wang Dun invited Li Qi to try adding an arm, but Li Qi declined, and the two set out for the society on their mounts.
• As they traveled, Li Qi and Wang Dun exchanged knowledge about their paths, and Wang Dun explained that the Reason Way studied observable rules rather than the elusive Dao.

Wang Dun explained the Reason Way’s focus on practical research, artifact technology, and contribution-based distribution to Li Qi. He also revealed that the Reason Way powered its imitation Nexus of All Realms with energy harvested from Ruins of Return, while the Nexus itself could only compute and communicate.

• Wang Dun described how the Reason Way studied observable principles and turned techniques from other Dao Lineages into practical artifacts and mass-produced tools.
• Wang Dun explained that the Reason Way used contribution rather than currency to distribute knowledge and artifacts, and that its members were divided over using the Nexus of All Realms or an imitation to evaluate value.
• Wang Dun told Li Qi that the Reason Way’s imitation Nexus drew power from collectors placed around thousands of Ruins of Return.
• Li Qi asked how that energy reached the Nexus, and Wang Dun explained that the Nexus was embedded in the Great Dao of space-time and could connect to energy sources through base stations, but could only compute and communicate.

Li Qi arrived at the Reason Way academy aboard a lavish Fifth Rank Treasure Ship and began teaching its cultivators the Dao Rule Reader. The lesson continued as they tried to grasp the Spirit Path’s way of perceiving abstract traits, and Li Qi expected to keep learning from the academy during their journey into the deep ocean.

• Wang Dun brought Li Qi aboard the academy’s treasure ship, where Li Qi examined its warning drum, Fusang wood hull, and eight protective treasures.
• Li Qi asked Wang Dun whether the Reason Way could remain comprehensive beyond the limits of magical-treasure assembly lines, and Wang Dun explained that seventh-rank ships were sold but ships above the fifth rank were exclusive to the Reason Way.
• Wang Dun introduced Li Qi to the academy cultivators as an expert on the Dao Rule Reader, and they eagerly prepared a projection for his lesson.
• Li Qi explained that the Dao Rule Reader let Spirit Path cultivators perceive the abstract traits and logic underlying concrete matter, and the Reason Way cultivators began trying to use it.

The narrator said they had been running a fever for forty hours, reaching 40°C, and were taking a day off.

• The narrator reported having an on-and-off fever for forty hours.
• The narrator said the fever had peaked at 40°C.
• The narrator announced they were taking a day off.

Li Qi and the Reason Way used Buddhist aura to develop a provisional Dao Rule Reader that could interpret abstract information while shielding them from the Five Aggregates. As their ship set out for the deep ocean, Li Qi began exploring its deck and accepted an old man's invitation to fish, only to feel time slow after assembling a fishing platform.

• Wang Dun returned with Buddhist aura borrowed from Master Jing Mo, allowing Li Qi and the Reason Way to enter Zen concentration and temporarily disregard the Five Aggregates.
• Li Qi and the Reason Way developed a shared formula and underlying protocol, bringing the Dao Rule Reader to a provisional completion.
• The lessons paused as Wang Dun and the Reason Way prepared the Fifth Rank Treasure Ship to sail for the deep ocean.
• Li Qi went onto the deck, reflected on the True Dragon and the deep-ocean journey, and spoke with an old man who invited him to fish.
• Li Qi used True Knowledge Dao Charm to assemble two Seventh Rank fishing platforms, then felt time around him slow.

Li Qi met an old martial artist fishing in the Eastern Sea and watched him haul up a sixth-rank turtle before releasing it in exchange for Essence Blood. The old man revealed a vast collection of Demon Dragon blood and resumed fishing, while Li Qi realized he was tempering his body with dragon blood and held a grudge against true dragons.

• Li Qi adapted to the Reason Way fishing platform’s heightened senses and used divine qi as a fishing line alongside the old man.
• The old man extended his Martial Dao Inner Qi line deep into the sea, caught a sixth-rank turtle, and dragged it onto the deck.
• The old man accepted a drop of the turtle’s Essence Blood and tossed it back into the sea.
• The old man showed Li Qi a layered box containing hundreds of thousands of drops of Essence Blood, all Demon Dragon blood.
• The old man cast his line again, and Li Qi recognized that he was tempering his body with dragon blood because he held a grudge against true dragons.

Li Qi befriended Shen Yijun and learned fishing on the research vessel, then encountered the mechanical monk Jingmo in the library and asked how he had awakened. Jingmo described his realization of Buddhist Dharma, while Li Qi listened and assessed the strange monk he had long suspected.

• Li Qi realized Shen Yijun wore a true dragon's inner world and suspected the Dragon Soul wrapped around him had drawn the old man's attention.
• Li Qi agreed to fish with Shen Yijun, learned his name and Innate Spirits lineage, and entered the fishing technique's threshold in a day.
• Li Qi improved his reactions and collected Savage Beasts, then returned to the library aboard the research vessel.
• Li Qi found a mechanical monk reading and confirmed that he was Jingmo.
• Li Qi asked how Jingmo had awakened, and Jingmo explained that he had realized Buddhist Dharma while still a puppet.

Li Qi studied the Reason Way and spent five days fishing and learning from Shen Yijun before the examination ship reached Duoshuo Mountain. As the ship approached the Ghost Gate, Shen Yijun prepared to fish in the black waters of the Yellow Springs.

• Li Qi found Monk Jingmo studying mechanical books for his own practical reasons and ruled him out as a suspect.
• Li Qi settled into a routine of fishing with Shen Yijun, studying in the library, and attending Reason Way lessons with Wang Dun and the others.
• Shen Yijun tapped Li Qi’s acupoints to sharpen his vision, allowing him to see the Great Peach Tree on Duoshuo Mountain and recognize the destination as the Ghost Gate.
• Li Qi’s vision overloaded, and Shen Yijun explained that the ship’s passengers would part ways at Duoshuo Mountain.
• Li Qi saw the sea and sky turn black beyond a clear boundary and recognized the area as a place where immense yin qi gathered.
• Shen Yijun told Li Qi to prepare to fish at the Ghost Gate, where the water was the Yellow Springs.

Li Qi crossed into Yellow Springs aboard the treasure ship and witnessed Shen Yijun and seven others drive back the yin qi before departing. The ship reached Duoshuo Mountain, where Li Qi disembarked to explore as it began a twenty-day stay.

• Li Qi agreed to go fishing in Yellow Springs with Shen Yijun after they finished their business.
• Shen Yijun and seven others joined forces to repel the yin qi, revealing Shen Yijun's lamp-shaped Martial Way Divine Intent, then left the ship.
• The treasure ship passed through a ghostly purgatory without being attacked, and the black seawater gradually turned yellow.
• Li Qi saw Duoshuo Mountain and its Great Peach Tree as the ship approached Yellow Springs.
• A crew member announced that the ship would remain for twenty days and warned everyone to beware of ghosts and monsters.
• Li Qi disembarked as soon as the ship reached shore, eager to explore.

Li Qi entered the Ghost Market beneath Duoshuo Mountain to seek trading opportunities and learn about the East Sea, where he unexpectedly reunited with Elder Li, now an underworld official. After explaining how Li Qi’s past aid had helped him escape reincarnation and earn his post, Elder Li described the Ghost Market’s rules and asked how Li Qi had reached the Ghost Gate without being harmed by yin energy.

• Li Qi planned to trade for ingredients, make offerings to Shentu and Yulei, gather souvenirs, and study Duoshuo Mountain as he considered the True Dragon’s possible role in guiding him.
• Li Qi entered the Ghost Market, watched demon ghosts conduct deals with living souls, and caused them to flee when they noticed him.
• Elder Li confronted Li Qi for disrupting the demons’ business, then recognized him and was delighted to discover he was still alive.
• Elder Li explained that Li Qi’s past use of Ghost Emperor spirit qi had helped him avoid reincarnation, cultivate as a ghost, and become a yamen runner overseeing the Ghost Market.
• Elder Li told Li Qi that the ghosts on the island were judged and punished according to their sins, and that their yin lifespans eventually ended in reincarnation.
• Elder Li asked Li Qi how he had reached the East Sea Ghost Gate without being eroded by yin energy.

Li Qi explored the Ghost Market with Elder Li, learned how dream-wandering souls could enter the underworld, and followed him through a warped passage to the East Sea Dragon Palace, the market’s second face. There, Li Qi sought merchants to buy rare ingredients for Sea Cooking Pot’s elder, but Elder Li warned that the requested goods were far beyond their standing.

• Li Qi told Elder Li that blessings from the Fifth Rank Treasure Ship had protected him from Ghost Gate Pass’s yin qi, and Elder Li recognized him as a true Shaman.
• Elder Li explained that sleeping people could roam the underworld in dreams, prompting Li Qi to wonder how the living world, underworld, and Ghost Gate Pass were connected.
• Li Qi asked Elder Li to take him to places where powerful cultivators traded, and Elder Li led him through a dense wall of yin qi along a path distorted to living visitors.
• Li Qi and Elder Li emerged in an opulent underwater palace, which Elder Li identified as the Ghost Market’s second face, Tianhong Jun’s Dragon Palace, where the Flood Dragon guaranteed transactions for a fee.
• Li Qi gave Elder Li Sea Cooking Pot’s shopping list, and Elder Li was alarmed by rare requests including Living Boat Carp, White Flood Dragon Tendon, Huang Neng, and Dragon Lord Scale.