Chapter Summaries

Li Ye subdued the dangerous Gold-Hilted Silver Axe Spirits and discovered that Wangshu Jade Rabbits wielding them could give chopped spiritual plants new life. After summoning five rabbits to test the ability, he learned it consumed the rabbits’ medicinal power and the axes’ spiritual energy, and wondered whether binding them would remove those limits.

• Li Ye suppressed the Gleaming Silver Osmanthus Pearl’s dangerous birth with the Sun-Moon Rings, then used the Tribulation Fire Spirit to tame the newly emerged Gold-Hilted Silver Axe Spirits and contracted with them.
• After observing the restored osmanthus trees and Moon Spirit Pearl Clam for half a year, Li Ye stored Wangshu’s moonlight and the Big Dipper’s starlight to encourage future Axe Spirit births.
• Li Ye summoned Wangshu Jade Rabbits, and five arrived; when they took up the Axe Spirits, the weapons made them eager to chop.
• A Jade Rabbit split a peach tree with an axe, causing it to become two vigorous trees, and another axe blow gave Silver Moon Grass renewed vitality.
• The Jade Rabbits explained that the life-restoring effect consumed their medicinal power and the axes’ spiritual energy, leaving Li Ye to consider whether binding them would remove the limits.

Li Ye brought the Wangshu Jade Rabbits to the Four Seasons Gambling House, where their axe strokes cured illnesses and duplicated spirit plants and beasts, drawing a crowd. After the Sect Leader discussed cultivating more rabbits and Li Ye’s promised trip to Du Su Mountain, Zhao He returned with a gift.

• Wangshu Jade Rabbit used its bound axe to sever a Flint Crystal Worm’s soul, and the worm survived.
• Hu Tong opened a Jade Rabbit Hall at the Four Seasons Gambling House, where the rabbits’ axe strokes were offered as a free attraction.
• A jade rabbit cured Junior Brother Du’s Thousand-Layer Peony and split it into two thriving plants.
• A jade rabbit split a dying Jade Beak Duck and produced a smaller, soul-less incarnation, prompting cultivators to bring more spirit plants and beasts.
• The Sect Leader told Li Ye that the grotto-heaven matter was resolved and he could visit Du Su Mountain after settling unfinished affairs.
• As Li Ye prepared to handle those matters, Zhao He returned with a gift.

Li Ye accepted Zhao He as his disciple after reviewing his years of loyal work expanding the Spirit Leaf Merchant Association, then arranged custom equipment for him through the Beavers. Li Ye discovered the Beavers had built a thriving smithy and began developing spiritual gardens for alchemy and artifact refinement, leaving Zhao He to finish a task for Bitter Journey Academy; two years later, Zhao He returned with an ink-wash-looking fish and found the cave abode transformed.

• Zhao He brought Li Ye detailed reports from several markets, and Li Ye identified a problem with Dongyang Market's water and earth veins.
• Zhao He described expanding the Spirit Leaf Merchant Association and carefully choosing loyal subordinates, prompting Li Ye to accept him as a disciple and promise to support his cultivation.
• Li Ye asked the Beavers to design Zhao He a custom set of equipment and discovered their nests had become a large Magic Tool workshop.
• Li Ye searched the Four Seasons Jade Tablet for spiritual gardens used in alchemy and artifact refinement, then decided to start with less expensive gardens for Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment.
• Li Ye sent Zhao He to handle the final work for Bitter Journey Academy and spent the next two years developing his cave abode.
• Zhao He returned carrying a fish sealed in an ink-wash-looking book and was stunned by the colossal thing inside the cave abode.

Li Ye showed Zhao He the Wuyou Spirit Garden, an automated workshop where spirit plants and spirit beasts cooperated to produce Foundation Establishment-grade Spirit Artifacts. He assigned Zhao He to manage sales and record the garden’s production process, while Yu Shichen remained sealed with the Tribulation Fire Spirit.

• Zhao He entered Li Ye’s strange metal tree and saw Fire-Eyed Spirit Monkeys sorting minerals while wearing Clarity Mirror Bloom spectacles.
• The Spirit Vine showed Zhao He Iron-Shaping Fish refining materials with Celestial Soul Resin Pine, then led him through a city where Bamboo Wood Ants and Golden Horn Ants operated tools and furnaces.
• Li Ye revealed Heartfelt, a spirit plant awakened through Heartfelt Melody, and explained how it synchronized the workshop’s creatures to produce Spirit Artifacts.
• Li Ye freed Yu Shichen from Zhao He’s book, then sent him into the Lesser World beside the Tribulation Fire Spirit.
• Zhao He told Li Ye that Grandmaster had given him a jade pendant containing the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Li Ye handed Zhao He the Wuyou Spirit Garden and tasked him with selling its products and recording the production process for Little Spirit.

Li Ye’s Worry-Free Artifact Forging Spirit Farm impressed the sect’s True Persons, who recognized the Heartfelt Melody demon spirit as its essential foundation and approved registering the farm. Su Yu and Can Ling then visited Li Ye to request an alchemy farm order and his help fusing Celestial Fortune Spiritwood into Can Ling’s Spirit-Locking Prison, and Li Ye agreed to try.

• Perfected Person Bo Shi and the other True Persons inspected Li Ye’s Worry-Free Artifact Forging Spirit Farm and learned that its Heartfelt Melody demon spirit enabled its spirit artifacts to become seamless.
• Su Yu asked whether the Heartfelt Melody could support alchemy spirit farms, then went with Can Ling to seek Li Ye; Perfected Person You Tian arranged to register the artifact farm.
• Li Ye told Su Yu that his Worry-Free Alchemy Spirit Farm would take several more years to complete.
• Can Ling asked Li Ye to help her fuse Celestial Fortune Spiritwood into her natal treasure so she could create a Spirit-Locking Prison.
• After Su Yu reminded him of his senior brother’s connection to the Punishment Hall, Li Ye agreed to help, while warning that success was uncertain.

Li Ye sent the Spirit Vine and a group of Giant Lake Otters to Dongyang Market to treat the imbalance between Dongyang Lake and the earth. The otters battled the Earth Dragons, letting the earth vent its resentment while the lake repaid it with spiritual power.

• Li Ye gave the Spirit Vine a drop of Essence Blood so he could share its senses, then sent it to Dongyang Market with more than a dozen Giant Lake Otters.
• The Spirit Vine told Perfected Person Du that the Earth Sentiment Technique had caused the market's trouble because its formations and spirit veins had shifted toward Dongyang Lake, upsetting the balance between water and earth.
• The largest Giant Lake Otter asked Perfected Person Du to let the group address the problem at the Earth Sentiment Hall, and he agreed.
• The Giant Lake Otters and Earth Dragons appeared over the lake and fought, scattering spiritual power onto the land while the lake absorbed the dragons' resentment.
• Perfected Person Du watched the battle, while the Spirit Vine realized Li Ye's method let the earth vent its anger and the lake compensate it.

Li Ye questioned Yu Shichen about the Plum Spirit Scroll and learned that Senior Brother had helped him escape the restraints of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Through Shuang Li, Li Ye discovered secrets about the Southern Domain and the Sky Vein Body Tempering Method, but a red-robed woman’s venomous attack on the Demon Suppression Tree left Shuang Li near death as Li Ye prepared to retaliate.

• Li Ye released Yu Shichen from his book and learned that Senior Brother had used the Plum Spirit Scroll to help him enter the present world.
• Yu Shichen explained that he hated Bitter Journey Academy because he could no longer produce silk threads, and Li Ye promised to let him see Su Qiu.
• Li Ye punished Shuang Li through the Demon Suppression Tree when he sensed Shuang Li wavering in his obedience.
• Shuang Li revealed that the Southern Domain’s incomplete southeast and weakened Heavenly Dao laws drove the Demon Race to seek Four Seasons Sect’s formation and its Five-Colored Flower.
• Shuang Li warned Li Ye that the Sky Vein Body Tempering Method might turn cultivators into stones that mended gaps in heaven, despite Zhao He already cultivating it.
• A tiny red snake bit Li Ye through the Heartfelt Melody, and a red-robed, scaled woman announced that Shuang Li was about to die as Li Ye smiled at the chance to retaliate.

Li Ye defeated Chi Ling, rescued Shuang Li, and established an alchemy operation in the Demon Race’s territory to search for two spiritual scrolls. After returning to the Four Seasons Sect, he learned from Perfected Person You Tian that the Five-Colored Flowers were being cultivated to repair the damaged Heavenly Dao, at the cost of countless grotto-heavens.

• Li Ye used the Tribulation Fire Spirit to kill Chi Ling, then traveled through a doorway made by the Mud Doll to reach Shuang Li and heal him.
• Shuang Li revealed that Chi Ling was the daughter of Ancestor Chi Tun, while Li Ye learned from Chi Ling’s lingering soul that she had ambushed him for personal revenge.
• Li Ye had spirit ants renovate Shuang Li’s cave, installed alchemy furnaces, and tasked Shuang Li with using pills to find two spiritual scrolls.
• Li Ye returned to the Four Seasons Sect and asked Perfected Person You Tian about the Five-Colored Flower.
• Perfected Person You Tian showed Li Ye a hidden realm where Five-Colored Flowers repaired the broken sky and explained that plucking them destroyed their grotto-heavens.
• Perfected Person You Tian told Li Ye that the sect had lost 123,652 grotto-heavens to cultivate 12,250 Five-Colored Flowers.

After ten years passed outside while Li Ye was briefly in the Jian Tree Grotto-Heaven, he returned to find his businesses flourishing and learned that Wen and the White Fox had fallen in love and had children. Wei Qingye arrived to face the surprising family, and the chapter ended with him stunned by how his senior brother had become a father.

• Second Senior Brother sealed the grotto-heaven with the Bronze Tree’s power and told Li Ye to return after reaching Nascent Soul.
• Li Ye returned to his cave abode and discovered that ten years had passed outside; Spirit Vine reported on the merchant association, the Paper-Making Technique, and his growing income.
• Li Ye ordered Spirit Vine to begin buying spirit and mineral veins so he could advance his cave abode, then went to retrieve Wen.
• Li Ye found Wen, the White Fox, and their young Golden Ink Painting Fox children together, and learned that Wen and the White Fox had fallen in love.
• Li Ye summoned Wei Qingye, who met Wen’s child and struggled to respond to the revelation that his senior brother had a family.

Li Ye discovered that Wen Xi’s blood could produce Golden Ink Blood Tai Sui, then brought Wen Xi and the White Fox to settle in East Cang Town. At Old Master Chou’s funeral, a divine power descended and brought the dead man back to life, leaving Li Ye and Wei Qingye facing the resurrected figure.

• Wei Qingye agreed that Wen Xi could no longer remain in the cultivation world, and Li Ye offered to let the White Fox stay with him outside the painting.
• Wen Xi gave Li Ye half a jin of Essence Blood, which Li Ye identified as Golden Ink Blood Tai Sui formed by the blood’s yang energy joining with yin energy.
• Li Ye, Wei Qingye, Wen Xi, and the White Fox arrived in East Cang Town, where Brother Du welcomed them and invited them to Old Master Chou’s funeral.
• Li Ye sensed that the Xiang River Abode was in danger and found the Cihui Rice God calling upon Compassionate Embrace to reverse Old Master Chou’s death.
• Compassionate Embrace sent down a golden drop of dew that entered Old Master Chou’s coffin, and Chou rose from it as Li Ye and Wei Qingye prepared to confront him.

Li Ye discovered that Compassionate Embrace had corrupted Old Master Chou and East Cang Town, and learned that only he could resolve the disaster. He transformed himself into a Jianmu tree to approach Chou, who offered him a beating green fruit taken from his chest.

• Li Ye moved East Cang Town’s residents into Jianmu Space as Wei Qingye attacked the risen Old Master Chou, whose Wheat Ears drained Wei Qingye’s strength.
• Li Ye turned Wei Qingye into a stone statue to save him, then restored him after escaping and suppressed Wei Qingye’s sword before it could self-destruct.
• Chen Mo explained that Compassionate Embrace’s corruption had to be resolved by Li Ye, since anyone else who approached East Cang Town would be assimilated.
• Li Ye examined the corrupted Xiang River Abode and realized Compassionate Embrace’s blessing might create a new form of continued life rather than truly reverse death.
• Li Ye worked with Xiang River Abode to transform himself into a Jianmu tree and spread its power through East Cang Town.
• Old Master Chou greeted the approaching Li Ye and pulled a still-beating green fruit from his chest, asking if Li Ye wanted to seek immortality with him.

Li Ye trapped Old Master Chou inside East Cang Town with Jianmu’s power over time, forcing him to face the loneliness of the immortality he had sought. While maintaining the seal, Li Ye awakened joyful spirits from Jianmu’s emotional fragments, and their presence made the crops ripen in abundance.

• Old Master Chou rejected Li Ye’s warning, insisting that Cihui had promised him immortality and the power to revive his old brothers.
• Li Ye realized that his wish-granting law for Xiang River Abode had helped invite Compassionate Embrace’s influence, and he decided to use Jianmu’s power to contain Old Master Chou.
• Li Ye enveloped East Cang Town in a time domain, while Wei Qingye left to seek a leaf from the Three Star Divine Tree and Chen Mo reinforced the town’s defenses.
• Li Ye told Old Master Chou that he would experience the loneliness of immortality, then returned to his courtyard and remained awake to keep the divine ability in place.
• Li Ye used the Sage Book “Nine Songs: Mountain Spirit” to create Sentient Jian Tree Spirits of Joy from emotional fragments, and their happiness caused the crops to ripen with twice the usual wheat.

Over five years, Li Ye used Compassionate Embrace’s power to nourish East Cang Town and the Bamboo Wood Ants, then discovered its blessings could yield vast Vital Essence. When Hell Dao emerged, his Senior Brother seized Old Master Chou and began summoning black-armored soldiers, leaving their forces poised against Jianmu.

• Jianmu’s dawnlight helped East Cang Town prosper, while the Bamboo Wood Ants grew larger, more intelligent, and desperate for longevity.
• Li Ye played the Xiang Yun Qin to isolate the ants in their nests, where their prayers for longevity drew a response from Compassionate Embrace.
• Pearly dew fell on the crops and produced Wheat Ears; Li Ye absorbed a drop’s vitality and began to understand Compassionate Embrace’s method of granting longevity.
• Xiang River Abode warned Li Ye that Old Master Chou was causing trouble, and Li Ye prepared the Bamboo Wood Ants for battle as Hell Dao appeared.
• Old Master Chou dug up murky yellow Spring Water, from which black-armored beings emerged and drained his vitality.
• Li Ye’s Senior Brother arrived, threw Old Master Chou into the Spring Water, and faced Jianmu as more black-armored soldiers assembled.

Li Ye fought Senior Brother’s Black Armored Army as its dead soldiers’ pain polluted the earth and damaged the Earth Vein Formation. Wei Qingye joined the battle, but Senior Brother used the final chapter of Nine Songs to suppress spiritual energy and shatter the formation, leaving East Cang Town on the brink of catastrophe.

• Li Ye’s avatar recognized Senior Brother leading the Black Armored Army, endured his Soul Hammer attack, and watched him signal that Li Ye should remember to kill him.
• Li Ye sent the Bamboo Wood Ants and demon spirits against the Black Armored Army, but the army advanced through their defenses as its soldiers’ deaths and memories afflicted his roots.
• Senior Brother revealed that the soldiers were Auspicious Fruit replicas of Forging Spirit Sect fighters and explained how their pain and hatred polluted the earth and weakened Li Ye’s Earth Vein Formation.
• Wei Qingye entered through Jianmu’s canopy, destroyed thousands of soldiers with his sword, and gave Li Ye a branch from his sect’s Three Star Divine Tree to stabilize the Years Sky Curtain.
• Senior Brother invoked Spirit Farewell, the final chapter of Nine Songs, which expelled spiritual energy, stopped Li Ye’s formations, and caused Jianmu and its defenders to weaken.
• As Senior Brother warned that chaos would soon descend, the Earth Vein Formation shattered, and earthquakes, collapsing houses, and clashing weather began to devastate East Cang Town.

As the earth vein formation collapsed, Li Ye received Compassionate Embrace’s Jianmu Flourishing divine ability and used its power to break the Black Armored Soldiers’ armor. He then emerged in purple divine light and swallowed Senior Brother, leaving their conflict unresolved.

• Outside the Years Sky Curtain, Chen Mo and Perfected Person Can Ling watched the formation collapse, but the Earth Book’s Earth Womb Membrane began forming before the Solar Four Seasons Sundial could cut away East Cang Town.
• Li Ye mended the earth vein formation as Jianmu while Wei Qingye repeatedly fought Senior Brother and learned that Senior Brother wanted Li Ye to kill him.
• Li Ye called on Compassionate Embrace through the original stalk of Compassionate Wheat, which answered by granting him the Jianmu Flourishing divine ability.
• Li Ye’s divine power shattered the Black Armored Soldiers’ armor and washed away the marks of Hell Dao as Wei Qingye blocked Senior Brother from reaching Jianmu.
• A purple river’s light transformed Li Ye, who walked before Senior Brother and swallowed him whole.

Li Ye absorbed Compassionate Embrace’s power, contained Senior Brother’s incarnation in his Purple Mansion, and entered the Yellow Springs to purge the excess divine force and drive another nail into the Hell Dao. The Earth Womb Membrane formed around East Cang Town, recognizing Li Ye as its master and making him an Earth Immortal as the town transformed into a jade bamboo forest.

• Li Ye told Wei Qingye he had imprisoned Senior Brother’s incarnation in his Purple Mansion, then healed Wei’s wounds and went on alone.
• Li Ye absorbed Compassionate Embrace’s remaining gift from Old Master Chou, whose body crumbled into the Yellow Springs.
• Li Ye entered the Yellow Springs, where fungal threads produced Black Armored Soldiers, and asked Compassionate Embrace to disperse its divine power and drive another nail into the Hell Dao.
• Li Ye’s Jianmu branch vanished with the Yellow Spring water, the Bronze Canopy collapsed, and the Earth Womb Membrane spread over East Cang Town, putting its inhabitants to sleep.
• The formation recognized sleeping Li Ye as its master and granted him Earth Immortal power, while surviving Bamboo Wood Ants transformed into a vast jade bamboo forest.
• Chen Mo, Perfected Person Can Ling, and Perfected Person Xuan entered and saw the earth-vein formation restored, leaving Xuan astonished that his repair efforts had been unnecessary.

At Wen’s housewarming gathering, Li Ye’s Senior Brother bestowed gifts and teachings while revealing the origins of Hell Dao and the fate of Fox Sister’s old master. He then disclosed that he was one of the Three Corpses threatening the patriarch and asked Li Ye how he would deal with him.

• Wen invited Li Ye and Wei Qingye to celebrate his new home, and Li Ye brought an intelligent iron pot that made osmanthus cool cakes for the children.
• Senior Brother appeared and cleansed Wen’s children’s Divine Senses with Four Seasons Spiritual Light, then taught Wei Qingye the Sky Stream Flowing Light Swordplay.
• Senior Brother imparted the remaining three Heartscape Illusion divine abilities to Li Ye and explained Cihui Medicine King’s connection to the upper realm and Hell Dao.
• Senior Brother revealed that the patriarch had tried to use Auspicious Fruit on the Three Corpse Worms, but her Three Corpses imprisoned her and sought to take over her body.
• Fox Sister asked about her old master, and Senior Brother explained that he had spent his Essence Blood and Soul Essence completing Hell’s Transformation Diagram and died without regret.
• Senior Brother told Li Ye that he was one of the Three Corpses and would eventually turn against the patriarch unless Li Ye killed him, then asked how Li Ye would deal with him.

Li Ye arranged for Senior Brother to oversee a secluded Heartland while the sect prepared a route to Hell Dao, then helped Wen discover that his Iron Pot had produced a new race of Little Iron Pot Taisui. The chapter left Li Ye reconsidering whether to send the young Taisui away after seeing Wen’s sorrow at parting with one.

• Li Ye refused to decide Senior Brother’s fate and bound him with Heartfelt Melody, assigning him to watch over a Heartland on Ruoquan Island until Hell Dao was destroyed and the true body recovered.
• Senior Brother advised Wen that his rebirth could help spiritual beings conceive, and Wen used his Essence Blood to produce a litter of Little Iron Pot Taisui from Li Ye’s spirit-awakened iron pot.
• Senior Brother explained that genuine gold sand from the Eastern Yang Sea could help balance Wen’s overflowing vitality, and told Li Ye that the Undying People, Red Spring, and Sweetwood were in the Mountains-and-Seas Realm of the Inverted Sky.
• The Little Iron Pot Taisui demonstrated their inherited cooking abilities, and Li Ye offered to help Wei Qingye raise one; Wen agreed and handed him the liveliest Taisui.
• Wen and the Taisui grew visibly sorrowful at their separation, making Li Ye question his plan to send the others away to work in a grotto-heaven.

Li Ye visited Perfected Person Shen Xue to place the Little Iron Pot Tai Sui in the sect’s care, but learned that Du Su Mountain had been sealed as part of the plan to destroy the Hell Dao. He was left in the Divine Snow Grotto-Heaven to experience winter as a mortal, where he needed to earn three Spirit Stones and began by taking on a dormant silver pine cone.

• Pot Sister agreed to let Li Ye take her children to the Four Seasons Sect and promised to send her Water of Life there.
• Li Ye returned to the sect with the Little Iron Pot Tai Sui and entered the Divine Snow Grotto-Heaven to meet Perfected Person Shen Xue.
• Lin Dong told Li Ye that Shen Xue wanted him to learn the winter chapter of the Seasonal Song by enduring winter in a mortal body, and that Du Su Mountain had been sealed to destroy the Hell Dao.
• Li Ye arrived at an abandoned courtyard and met Yin Cong, a Snow Spirit Silver Squirrel who offered to repair it for three Spirit Stones.
• Yin Cong gave Li Ye a dormant Silver Birch Spirit Pine Cone to revive and grow in exchange for help selling its fruit, and Li Ye realized he needed a spirit beast associated with Great Cold.

Li Ye found a flock of hungry Snowy Phoenix-tailed Ducks and discovered that they would eat only food cooked over fire. After he fed them steamed Yang Extremity Thousand Year Dates, they laid precious eggs containing phoenix-like feathers, and Li Ye examined one closely.

• Li Ye met more than a hundred Snowy Phoenix-tailed Ducks, which communicated through Divine Sense and followed him in search of food.
• The ducks led Li Ye to Yang Extremity Thousand Year Dates, whose sweet fruit restored his strength and raised his cultivation from Qi Refining First Layer to Qi Refining Second Layer.
• The ducks refused to eat the dates raw, so Li Ye brought out the Little Iron Pot Tai Sui to cook them.
• The ducks devoured the cooked dates and formed a Divine Sense barrier that trapped the squirrels in a joyful illusion of dancing dates.
• After the flock ate the dates, several ducks laid eggs and their leader offered them to Li Ye; he saw multicolored flames and a phoenix-like feather inside one egg.