Chapter Summaries

Jiang Ding reunited with his teachers and classmates, learned that True Person Gulin was the Bone Forest Dao Child of the Eastern Extreme Demonic Sect, and helped An Siyan and Jin Lingfeng prepare to form Golden Cores. He then shared his Golden Core formation experience with a large audience of Foundation Establishment Peak Cultivators.

• Jiang Ding visited True Person Gulin and Ouyang Hui, and learned that Gulin was the Bone Forest Dao Child of the Eastern Extreme Demonic Sect.
• Jiang Ding returned to An Siyan and Jin Lingfeng, who teased him about becoming a Golden Core Ancestor.
• Jin Lingfeng said she planned to form her Golden Core in the Stellar Secret Realm in three years, while An Siyan said she hoped to achieve a Supreme Golden Core.
• Jiang Ding gave An Siyan a top-grade Golden Core Pill and offered to help both women obtain the spiritual items they needed, with repayment expected later.
• Jiang Ding explained his Golden Core formation experience to hundreds of Foundation Establishment Peak Cultivators from across the Immortal Sect.

Jiang Ding answered Foundation Establishment Cultivators’ questions about inner demons and tribulations before meeting True Lord Dongjin, who urged him to seize the Geomagnetic Realm’s Geomagnetic Iron Mother for a future fortress cannon. Jiang Ding rejected taking what belonged to others but suggested the Black Tortoise Heavenly Palace might return it voluntarily once he reached late Golden Core, leaving Dongjin delighted by the idea.

• Jiang Ding told a reconnaissance pilot that fleeing an inner demon was acceptable as long as he remained fearless, then answered the cultivators’ questions over more than ten days.
• Lord Lu Ling introduced Jiang Ding to True Lord Dongjin, who praised his actions at the Great Sun Heavenly Pool and argued that hostile forces should be met with force.
• True Lord Dongjin explained the Immortal Sect’s history of conflict with the Black Tortoise Heavenly Palace over the Geomagnetic Realm and its Geomagnetic Iron Mother.
• True Lord Dongjin proposed taking the Geomagnetic Realm’s fifth-tier material to make a fortress cannon for Jiang Ding’s future Super Aerospace Aircraft Carrier.
• Jiang Ding said the Immortal Sect should not steal others’ property and suggested the Black Tortoise Heavenly Palace might voluntarily return it once he reached late Golden Core, which delighted True Lord Dongjin.

After advancing to the Golden Core Realm, Jiang Ding inspected his equipment and considered the cultivation tasks ahead, then decided to return home after three years away. He arrived in Banyan City to find his family and neighbors celebrating his breakthrough and greeting him as an ancestor.

• True Lord Sea-Stabilizer praised Jiang Ding for relying on overwhelming strength, while Lord Lu Ling questioned whether his cautious attitude suited a sword cultivator.
• Jiang Ding inspected the Super Battleship and Sword-type Drone construction at Lianyun Spaceport, then upgraded the Electromagnetic Main Cannon before deciding to keep his old Space-Air Fighter as a memento.
• Jiang Ding considered his plans for Golden Core cultivation, formations, concealment spells, sword escapes, and a new dao robe, but chose to go home first.
• Jiang Ding flew to Banyan City and found his residential complex decorated with a banner celebrating his successful core formation.
• Lin Yuanwang spotted Jiang Ding, and the crowd gathered to greet him respectfully as a Golden Core Ancestor.

Jiang Ding celebrated his advancement to Golden Core with his extended family and hometown friends, reflecting on the loved ones who remained by his side. The gathering ended with Zhou Yun asking Jiang Yuan to help her overcome her cultivation limits and avoid an early death.

• Jiang Ding returned home for a banquet, helped the bowing guests stand, and handed out Pure Spirit Pills.
• He joined Lin Wanqiu, Jiang Yuan, and Lin Yuanwang, learned about their descendants, and congratulated Lin Yuanwang’s daughter Lin Xiaohe on her studies.
• Jiang Ding and Jiang Yuan spoke about their family and the happiness she had found after reaching Foundation Establishment.
• Zhou Yun hesitated while trying to ask Jiang Ding for something, while Zhou Xiong offered congratulations and left without making his own request.
• Zhou Yun pleaded with Jiang Yuan for help, saying she feared Foundation Establishment Late Stage would be her limit and did not want to die after only a little over a hundred years.

Jiang Ding reunited with old classmates at a banquet celebrating his Golden Core achievement, then turned his attention to Mu Tianxue and the Law-Breaking Steel fragment she possessed. He planned to monitor Chu and wait for her to emerge before arranging her death.

• Jiang Yuan refused Zhou Yun's request to ask Jiang Ding for help, saying he would not burden his brother for every relative's sake.
• Jiang Ding welcomed Li Junhao, Hua Bing, and Wu Tianli to the banquet and caught up with his former classmates.
• Jiang Ding and his classmates reminisced about their school days and discussed the dangers and choices facing cultivators.
• After the banquet ended, Jiang Ding returned to Tushan Immortal City and resolved to deal with Mu Tianxue and her Law-Breaking Steel fragment.
• Jiang Ding decided to establish sword Dao formations to watch Chu and wait forty or fifty years before sending Golden Core Peak cultivators to force Mu Tianxue out and kill her.

Jiang Ding reviewed how to improve his Destiny Magical Treasure and surveyed the century-old growth of Tushan Immortal City. He learned that the city’s mines were being depleted and its intelligence network was expanding into the Northern Plains.

• Jiang Ding examined the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword’s single Earth Fiend Restriction and considered refining it with Gold Attribute Natural Treasures.
• Jiang Ding scanned Tushan Immortal City and noted its growth to more than forty permanent Golden Core cultivators and its major contribution to funding the super Space-Air Battleship.
• Gong Caiyu reported that public order across Tushan’s twelve cities remained stable.
• Chun Jian reported that Tushan’s mineral deposits were declining and that the Poison Flow Silver Ore mine could be exhausted within a century.
• Qiu Shanggong and Shang Yun reported on spirit plants, spirit beasts, and spirit fish under their supervision.
• Dong Cang reported that hidden candidate maids had been planted among forces in Tu Kingdom and that seventy-three formal maids were infiltrating Northern Plains factions.

Dong Cang briefed Jiang Ding on the escalating Northern Plains war, its likely turning point, and the casualties among their forces. Jiang Ding inspected Tushan Immortal City, then teleported to the Chu Kingdom border to investigate its Golden Core cultivators’ trips to a Blood Transformation Hall auction.

• Dong Cang explained that the Righteous and Demonic Alliance and the Great Sun Sect were intensifying conscription and warfare, devastating small and medium powers across the Northern Plains.
• Dong Cang reported that Daolue Pavilion expected the war to change course within roughly twenty to a hundred years, though it could not predict who would prevail.
• Dong Cang told Jiang Ding that seventeen of their women had died in battle over forty-two years, and Jiang Ding instructed him to care for their families.
• Jiang Ding disguised himself and inspected Tushan Immortal City, confirming it matched reports and finding only seven or eight Golden Core cultivators still there.
• Jiang Ding learned that Tushan Immortal City's Golden Core cultivators traveled every twenty years to a Blood Transformation Hall underground auction near the Chu Kingdom border, then teleported there.

Jiang Ding used the Blood Dissolving Divine Blade’s lingering aura to create tracking needles and scattered them along the border to detect Mu Tianxue. He then discovered an illegal auction, where a Golden Core cultivator’s suggestion to attack Tushan Immortal City sent the gathered cultivators fleeing.

• Jiang Ding drew out the Blood Dissolving Divine Blade’s unfinished blade and extracted its lingering aura to make Sword Qi that could detect Mu Tianxue.
• Jiang Ding refined thousands of tracking needles and spent over a month placing them around Chu Kingdom’s border while observing the kingdoms’ strained mortal societies.
• Jiang Ding’s Spiritual Sense Scan revealed an auction in Chu Kingdom selling items forbidden by Tushan Immortal City.
• The Spirit Treasure Merchant Guild’s representative said the auction had no more valuable goods, prompting Golden Core cultivators to lament their poverty and lack of resources.
• A black-robed Golden Core cultivator suggested that the gathered cultivators could challenge wealthy Tushan Immortal City, and the others immediately fled.

After learning why other Golden Core Cultivators feared attacking Tushan Immortal City, Black Mountain left the auction and was confronted by Jiang Ding. Jiang Ding discovered Black Mountain was a direct descendant of the Six Paths Sect’s Animal Dao and demanded access to his divine soul, prompting Black Mountain to attack.

• Black Mountain questioned the Spirit Treasure Merchant Guild shopkeeper about why the other cultivators had fled, and the shopkeeper explained that the slaughter at Tushan Immortal City had made them suspect a trap.
• Black Mountain bought the history and intelligence of Tushan Immortal City, then left through the Teleportation Array and thought that he would wait for others from his sect to arrive.
• Jiang Ding invaded Black Mountain’s thoughts with a thread of Blue Gold Sword Qi and appeared before him after Black Mountain destroyed it.
• Black Mountain identified himself as a direct descendant of the Black Clan of the Animal Dao and offered half his possessions, warning Jiang Ding that a Nascent Soul ancestor’s imprint would track his killer.
• Jiang Ding refused the offer and demanded to examine Black Mountain’s divine soul, so Black Mountain launched a High-grade Magic Treasure attack with his Black Feather Magic Treasure.

Jiang Ding fought Black Mountain, a descendant of the Six Paths Sect's Animal Dao, and revealed power that seemed to belong to a Nascent Soul True Lord. Black Mountain attempted to escape with a Teleportation Talisman, but Jiang Ding's Supreme Clarity Flying Sword pursued him through space and killed him.

• Jiang Ding confronted Black Mountain and demonstrated that his Sword Qi could repel Black Mountain's Black Feather Magic Treasure.
• Black Mountain transformed into a Crow Demon and attacked with a barrage of feathers and formation-powered blades, but Jiang Ding's Sword Qi shattered them.
• Jiang Ding drew the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword, and Black Mountain recognized him as a Nascent Soul True Lord before launching his Soul Burning Black Flame.
• Black Mountain crushed a Teleportation Talisman and vanished, but Jiang Ding sent the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword through space after him.
• The sword caught Black Mountain several kilometers away, pierced his chest, and reduced his body to ash before returning with his weakened soul and nearly shattered Golden Core.

Jiang Ding learned from Black Mountain’s memories that the Six Paths Sect’s Animal Dao was preparing for a major battle, then destroyed True Monarch Divine Crow’s soul imprint. Fearing that either victory or defeat could bring danger to the Land of Three Kingdoms, he ordered Tushan Immortal City’s people to scatter and lie low, and the chapter ended with Li Qingyun arriving to visit.

• Jiang Ding used a fourth-grade Soul Searching Talisman to uncover Black Mountain’s memories, including the Animal Dao’s brutal cultivation methods and True Monarch Divine Crow’s identity.
• True Monarch Divine Crow’s soul imprint appeared and tried to recruit Jiang Ding against the Great Sun Sect, but Jiang Ding rejected his offers and destroyed the imprint with one sword.
• Jiang Ding learned that Black Mountain had come on orders from Black Dragon to prepare the Animal Dao’s backyard for a possible major battle, and he concluded that the Land of Three Kingdoms could become unsafe whether the Six Paths Sect won or lost.
• Jiang Ding returned to Tushan Immortal City and ordered Gong Caiyu, Qiu Shanggong, and the other first maidservants of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter to scatter its people within a year and relocate friendly people who agreed to leave.
• Gong Caiyu told Jiang Ding that Li Qingyun of the Seven Feathers Sect had come to visit.

Li Qingyun delivered news that True Person Bai Mei planned to leave the Seven Feathers Sect for the Northern Plains, and Jiang Ding agreed to help protect the sect and guide Li Qingyun's Golden Core preparation. Jiang Ding then received Han Lin, who had finally returned after many years away.

• Li Qingyun brought True Person Bai Mei's letter to Jiang Ding and explained that Bai Mei had accepted an invitation to become a Guest Blood Rider among the Eighteen Blood Cloud Riders.
• Li Qingyun told Jiang Ding that Bai Mei was leaving for the Northern Plains while Martial Uncle Zhou had secluded himself after his son died during a Golden Core tribulation.
• Jiang Ding agreed that Tushan Immortal City would help the Seven Feathers Sect if needed and gave Li Qingyun guidance on tempering his meridians for Golden Core formation.
• Han Lin arrived at the demon palace seeking an audience, and Jiang Ding personally invited him inside.
• Jiang Ding greeted Han Lin and asked about his years in the Northern Plains.

Han Lin brought Jiang Ding news that the Righteous and Demonic Alliance was likely losing its war against the Great Sun Sect, threatening the Land of Three Kingdoms. After Jiang Ding healed Han Lin’s wound from Yin Chougu, he gave him a share of the Six Paths Dharma Intent.

• Jiang Ding warned Han Lin to use the Thousand Souls Banner less often and not casually slaughter people to refine treasures.
• Han Lin told Jiang Ding that the Holy Son of Six Paths Sect, Yin Chougu, had wounded him while hunting him down.
• Han Lin reported that the Righteous and Demonic Alliance had lost several Nascent Soul ancestors and families, and that its collapse could endanger the Land of Three Kingdoms.
• Jiang Ding considered the report plausible and thanked Han Lin for bringing the important intelligence.
• Jiang Ding extracted and suppressed the Six Paths Dharma Intent in Han Lin’s wound, healing him and keeping one portion for study.
• Jiang Ding gave Han Lin the remaining portion of the Dharma Intent, which Han Lin accepted with gratitude.

Jiang Ding visited family graves and reflected on distant memories before returning to Pure Breeze University, where he packed his belongings and chose a new Golden Core dormitory. He left for the floating mountain Jia 325.

• Jiang Ding visited his grandparents', uncle's, and teachers' graves, then flew toward Immortal Capital after recalling distant memories.
• Lin Wanqiu visited Jiang Gong Chaoyang's grave and reflected on his choices, praising Jiang Ding's cultivation while expressing relief that Jiang Gong had not burdened him.
• Jiang Ding harvested the wheat around his old dormitory and packed his belongings after nearly a century at Pure Breeze University.
• Jiang Ding selected the floating mountain Jia 325 as his Golden Core dormitory and received confirmation that his room had changed.
• Jiang Ding searched his old dormitory with his divine sense, confirmed he had left nothing behind, and flew toward the Cloud Layer.

Jiang Ding relocated his cave abode to a floating mountain and cultivated beneath the enormous Taiqing Flying Sword Tree. Three months later, he attended a Dao Law class with fellow doctoral students, where they discussed his new Golden Core and whether he would form an Army Group.

• Jiang Ding smelted Silver Light Iron to repair a cliff face on the floating mountain and moved his belongings there.
• Jiang Ding planted the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword, which grew into a vast Taiqing Flying Sword Tree that gathered Great Sun Rays and Spiritual Qi.
• After three months of cultivation, Jiang Ding flew to a leaf where nearly two hundred doctoral students had gathered for class.
• Jiang Ding asked An Siyan and Jin Lingfeng about their Golden Core preparations, and they said they expected to need about twenty more years of polishing.
• Jiang Ding's classmates congratulated him on forming his core and asked whether he would create an Army Group, but he gave no definite answer.

Jiang Ding attended Yuan’s lessons on Nascent Soul cultivation and received help with his cultivation research. Yuan agreed to advise him on the Great Sun Golden Core Secret Art, while admitting that the Immortal Sect had made little progress toward Void Refinement.

• Jiang Ding and the other cultivators gathered for Yuan’s class, where he taught them about the Nascent Soul.
• Jiang Ding asked Yuan about difficulties in the Myriad Transformation Magnetic Yuan Scripture, and Yuan explained where his understanding had gone wrong.
• After months of lessons, Yuan asked Jiang Ding about his research with Zhang Junsheng on the Great Sun Golden Core Secret Art.
• Jiang Ding told Yuan that the research had stalled because their knowledge and inheritance were insufficient.
• Yuan agreed to discuss the research with Jiang Ding when difficulties arose, then lamented that the path to Void Refinement remained unclear.

Jiang Ding studied the Great Sun Heavenly Pool Sword Refining Method and tested how different metals affected the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword’s growth. After finding several promising materials, he prepared to test Synthetic Geng Metal No. 21.

• Jiang Ding reviewed the sword-refining method and examined the restrictions in magic treasures taken from Black Mountain, Golden Pagoda King, and Madam Thousand Snakes.
• Jiang Ding tested common metals and found that the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword liked tungsten, while most other Mortal Materials barely nourished it.
• Jiang Ding spent a month testing composite materials and found that Law-Breaking Steel and tungsten were dessert-cake grade for the flying sword.
• Jiang Ding tested spirit materials and Immortal Sect artificial materials, finding that most were ordinary nourishment while rare materials such as artificial Electromagnetic Spirit Gold were gourmet food grade.
• Jiang Ding concluded that the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword needed a wide variety of metals and brought out Synthetic Geng Metal No. 21 for testing.

Jiang Ding began feeding the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword Synthetic Geng Metal No. 21 and sought a discount from its producer, Immortal Capital First Gold Group. He met the group's general manager, Jin Daqian, who reminded him that the material could not be sold beyond the realm.

• Jiang Ding spent thirty million Low-grade Spirit Stones on Synthetic Geng Metal No. 21 and watched the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword eagerly absorb its Geng Metal qi.
• Jiang Ding decided the material would become the sword's staple food, though he worried about its annual cost and his plans to promote swordsmanship research.
• Jiang Ding contacted Immortal Capital First Gold Group through the Illusory Realm and was impressed that his spiritual sense could not detect its illusions.
• Jin Daqian, the group's Nascent Soul Early Stage general manager, met Jiang Ding and heard his request for one portion of Synthetic Geng Metal No. 21 each year at a discount.
• Jin Daqian warned Jiang Ding that Synthetic Geng Metal No. 21 was a controlled material and could not be traded to people beyond the realm.

Jiang Ding secured a limited supply of Synthetic Geng Metal No. 21 and refused to seek priority funding that would delay other cultivators’ orders. He then used rare materials and the Great Sun Heavenly Pool’s sword-refining treasures to complete a second Earth Fiend Restriction on the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword, leaving it newly tempered and stronger.

• Jiang Ding agreed to buy one portion of Synthetic Geng Metal No. 21 every five years and learned that scarce materials could improve the supply and price.
• Jiang Ding rejected asking Soil-Calming Sage for help and declined to seek special funding that would postpone other cultivators’ orders.
• Jiang Ding studied the Golden Core chapter of the Myriad Transformation Magnetic Yuan Scripture and began restoring the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword with Dan Fire and a Sunflame Crystal.
• Jiang Ding refined Tungsten Metal, Law-Breaking Steel, and Synthetic Geng Metal No. 21 into materials for inscribing the Great Sun Divine Restriction.
• Jiang Ding completed a second Earth Fiend Restriction on the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword and used a Moonstream Crystal to cool, repair, and temper it.

Jiang Ding completed his transition to the Golden Core section of the Myriad Transformation Magnetic Yuan Scripture and chose new concealment and escape techniques to study. A sudden sense of mortal danger reached him through Nano Liquid Robot A-25, and he disappeared to investigate.

• Jiang Ding calculated that refining two Earth Fiend Restrictions each year would let the Supreme Clarity Flying Sword become a Nascent Soul Treasure in thirty-six years.
• Over five years, Jiang Ding continued refining the flying sword and cultivating until he completed the Golden Core section of the Myriad Transformation Magnetic Yuan Scripture.
• Jiang Ding selected the Magnetic Concealment Art and Magnetic Void Flash from the Immortal Sect Library and downloaded both spells.
• Jiang Ding sensed a life-and-death crisis transmitted through Nano Liquid Robot A-25 and realized the danger was somewhere else.
• Jiang Ding looked at the Broken Sword Tip in his Storage Jade Pendant and vanished.