Recaps

After the sect confirmed that Li Ye’s Dang Kang Flower Ginseng Piglet could purify contaminated soil and reproduce, it sent him and eighteen Foundation Establishment cultivators to Bitter Journey Academy. There, Li Ye entered a black-and-white Grotto-Heaven where ink-wash contamination resisted his methods, and he suspected it was connected to his Heartscape Illusion.

• Li Ye presented the Dang Kang Flower Ginseng Piglet, and the Spirit Plant and Spirit Beast Halls confirmed it could restore barren soil and reproduce by growing piglets inside ginseng roots.
• The sect leader ordered Li Ye to lead eighteen cultivators to Bitter Journey Academy to investigate contaminated Grotto-Heavens, promising him an opportunity to enter Du Su Mountain if he succeeded.
• Li Ye, Senior Brother Su Ya, and their party traveled along the Azure Cloud Road and met Lu Qingge at Bitter Journey Academy.
• Lu Qingge brought Li Ye alone into an ink-wash Grotto-Heaven, where Li Ye felt the contamination draining his life and turning his body toward paper.
• Li Ye’s Earth Wish Art failed, and the piglet briefly purified the soil before the ink-wash contamination returned; as he collected soil, Li Ye suspected the Grotto-Heaven was linked to his Heartscape Illusion.

Li Ye discovered that the contaminated grotto-heaven soil contained unfamiliar blood, then used his Lesser World to create an Ink Wash Sprite from it. Rong Yuewei of Bitter Journey Academy’s Spirit Demon Repository invited Li Ye to meet an elder and revealed that the spiritual scrolls might be connected to Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

• Su Ya explained that Bitter Journey Academy’s Spirit Demon Repository housed spirits whose advancement depended on Sage Books and human cultivators.
• A disciple found unfamiliar blood mixed into the contaminated soil, and Li Ye sent its spiritual power structure and their deductions to the Four Seasons Sect.
• Li Ye used his Lesser World to transform the soil’s blood into an Ink Wash Sprite, then bound it to a Wax Plum that became an ink-wash plum blossom.
• Rong Yuewei arrived and confirmed that the grotto-heaven contamination involved Spirit Demons, then invited Li Ye to the Spirit Demon Repository.
• Rong Yuewei asked whether Li Ye possessed the Bamboo and Locust spiritual scrolls and said they were linked to the strange book Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

Li Ye helped Di Sui purify the ink-wash grotto-heaven with his wax plum and arranged for mulberries and silkworms to be raised there. Di Sui then forced out the Bookworm Sprites hidden in the grotto-heaven, revealing that they had been consuming a fragment of the Plum Spirit Scroll.

• Li Ye followed Rong Yue Wei into the Spirit Demon Repository, where Guan Yan Zai invited him to study the Sage Book at Bitter Journey Academy.
• Di Sui dismissed Lu Qingge’s suspicions about the Spirit Demon Repository and gave Li Ye the pages of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio as compensation for past wrongs.
• Li Ye played the Heartfelt Melody for Di Sui, who explained that he wanted to make amends for the damage caused by a junior of the Painting Dao and a True Person of the Four Seasons Sect.
• Di Sui opened an ink-wash grotto-heaven, and Li Ye’s wax plum absorbed the ink wash and purified dozens of mu of land.
• Li Ye recommended planting Radiant Dawn Spirit Mulberries and raising Voidink Spirit Silkworms, and Di Sui agreed to the plan.
• Di Sui summoned the Bookworm Sprites from the grotto-heaven and destroyed them with a Ginkgo leaf, leaving behind a fragmentary page from the Plum Spirit Scroll.

Li Ye settled the Four Seasons Sect’s business with the Sect Leader and joined Su Ya at Bitter Journey Academy, where they watched Confucian scholars awaken a hidden spirit plant. While helping them find Thousand Illusion Drunken Mushrooms, Li Ye discovered that Human Script Conferment used the academy’s Fortune and Merit to make spirit plants count as humans.

• Li Ye told the Sect Leader what had happened, received permission to handle matters at Bitter Journey Academy, and asked the Sect to send disciples to help the Ink Wash Sprite and Dang Kang Flower Ginseng Piglet reproduce.
• Li Ye and Su Ya entered a primordial cave-heaven with Bitter Journey Academy scholars and used the Drunken Light Spirit Clam to detect hidden wine and reveal the Thousand Illusion Drunken Mushroom.
• A white-robed female scholar recited a Sage Book to awaken a mushroom, which gained the Human Script Conferment name and produced a cup of wine that inspired her to complete a Magic Treasure painting scroll.
• Li Ye proposed using the Heartfelt Melody and his Heartscape Illusion method to help the scholars find mushrooms and paint in the cave-heaven, and they agreed.
• Li Ye used the Heartfelt Melody and the Drunken Light Spirit Clam to help the scholars find and awaken more mushrooms, sensing that the Human Seal lent them the academy’s Fortune and Merit so heaven and earth would recognize them as humans.

After bitter wine and the Sea of Learning stirred the Gla.s.s Bracelet, Li Ye engraved ancient Sage Book lines into the Sun-Moon Rings and transformed his Lesser World. He then tried to awaken the Calamity Fire with the same words and merit, but faced a Heavenly Tribulation and ran short of merit until Su Ya offered him the Four Seasons Harmony token.

• Li Ye played the Heartfelt Melody to awaken more Thousand Illusion Drunken Mushrooms, then drank the bitter wine and gained a surge of inspiration.
• A sudden Heavenly Thunder isolated the grotto-heaven, and the Headmaster ordered the academy to pour the Sea of Learning into it to repay a favor.
• The Gla.s.s Bracelet, the Sun-Moon Rings, and the Sea of Learning stirred Li Ye's understanding of two lines from Heaven's Questions, which he carved into the rings over seven months.
• The new Dao laws gave Li Ye's Lesser World a sun-and-moon cycle and expanded it from one mu to nearly ten thousand mu.
• Li Ye tried to awaken the Calamity Fire with Sage Book lines and Jianmu's merit, but a Heavenly Tribulation formed and the merit proved insufficient.
• Su Ya offered Li Ye a gray token inscribed Four Seasons Harmony.

Li Ye used merit and the scholars’ help to awaken the Calamity Fire’s spirit, which named itself Ming Zhao. After the tribulation ended, Di Sui and Xiang Huai enlisted Li Ye and his Drunken Light Spirit Clam to brew Bitter Calamity Wine, leaving the academy’s scholars—and Xiang Huai’s mysterious disciple-granddaughter—making vats from Calamity Ash.

• Li Ye and the scholars resisted the silent Heavenly Tribulation while he used merit and Heaven’s Questions to awaken the Calamity Fire’s spirituality.
• The newly born Tribulation Fire Spirit chose the name Ming Zhao and settled trustingly into Li Ye’s palm.
• Di Sui and Xiang Huai appeared, and Xiang Huai asked Li Ye to help make Bitter Calamity Wine using a brewing method written on a page of Sea of Learning Water.
• Li Ye’s Drunken Light Spirit Clam recognized the wine and agreed to brew it, while Xiang Huai supplied one hundred thousand jin of Calamity Ash.
• The scholars enthusiastically shaped Calamity Ash and Sea of Learning Water into wine vats, gaining spiritual energy as they worked.
• Xiang Huai’s young disciple-granddaughter joined the vat-making, and Li Ye wondered whether the familiar girl was Xiang Huai herself in disguise.

Li Ye learned that Bitter Journey Academy’s wine-making method also served as a Painting Dao technique and agreed to learn it from Di Sui. After the wine jars were sealed, Di Sui gave Li Ye a Heavenly Color Stone Carving as a test, and Li Ye immediately tried painting it with a powdered bead from his Gla.s.s Bracelet.

• Xiang Huai showed the beavers how to mix Calamity Ash and Sea of Learning Water, while Di Sui explained that she followed the Painting Dao and that the wine ingredients could serve as pigments.
• Di Sui told Li Ye that Hell Dao used murals to grow evil ghosts and wronged souls, explained that he had imprisoned the previous Academy Head, and offered to teach Li Ye the Painting Dao method.
• The scholars finished making wine jars, and Xiang Huai gave the beavers a token to help them shed their demon aura when forming Golden Cores.
• Xiang Huai placed beating hearts into the jars, and Li Ye used the Drunken Light Spirit Clam, Compassionate Wheat, and Tribulation Fire to seal them, leaving the spirit clam gravely weakened.
• Di Sui gave Li Ye a Heavenly Color Stone Carving and said it would teach him the method if he colored its lotus using the essences of things; Li Ye ground a bead from his Gla.s.s Bracelet and applied it to the carving.

Li Ye began painting with the Heavenly Dao’s azure pigment and learned he would need eight equally prestigious colors, while Di Sui pointed him toward spirit scrolls in the Southern Domain. After advancing the grotto-heavens’ restoration and visiting Bitter Journey Academy’s market, Li Ye discovered that the panel might let him unite all seven varieties of Wenxing Bamboo.

• Li Ye used the Gla.s.s Bracelet’s pigment to color a lotus petal azure, and Di Sui warned that the remaining eight pigments had to be of equal standing.
• Di Sui told Li Ye that the academy’s ink-wash spirit scroll would eventually be his and that the Orchid and Chrysanthemum scrolls were likely book spirits in the Southern Domain’s Demon Race territory.
• Li Ye inspected the polluted grotto-heaven, tested several divine abilities against the Ink Wash, and continued its restoration with the help of spirit plants and beasts.
• Lu Qingge invited Li Ye to tour the academy’s spirit plants, and the two met Su Ya at Tianmo Small Market.
• Li Ye examined Celestial Balance Wenxing Bamboo and realized his panel suggested he could unite all seven varieties through the Carefree Granary.

Li Ye negotiated with Bitter Journey Academy to address Wenxing Bamboo’s flaw and signed a sect contract committing himself to improve it. After securing extensive supplies and a garden residence, he remained at the academy while planning to avoid returning to his sect until he knew how its leaders would react.

• Li Ye recognized that Wenxing Bamboo’s flaw involved its inability to withstand true starlight and offered to solve it in exchange for cooperation between Bitter Journey Academy and the Four Seasons Sect.
• Lu Qingge brought Li Ye and Su Ya to Ripple Moon Teahouse, where Li Ye discovered the pavilion was a spirit creature connected to the Nine Songs.
• Su Ya expressed concern about the risks of a binding sect contract, but Li Ye reassured him and asked him to stay at the academy to share in the merit.
• The academy sent Li Ye spiritual plants representing the Four Treasures of Study, and he identified Myriad Sinking Bamboo and Still Ink Moss as plants he could bind.
• Zhuge Ce met Li Ye, presented a contract, and witnessed him sign it with a Four Seasons Sect token.
• Li Ye requested one thousand plants of each of the seven grades of Wenxing Bamboo, seven Literary Dragon Turtles, ten thousand of each of the four study-related spiritual plants, and a garden residence.

Li Ye arranged seven Wenxing Bamboo according to the Big Dipper and triggered a spring of starlight water that could temporarily erase beings from the registry of fate. As the Literary Dragon Turtle entered the spring and Tianquan Wenxing Bamboo asked for the Sage Book, the darkness outside swallowed Jianmu's spatial barrier and flooded into Li Ye's Jian Tree World.

• The Four Seasons Sect Leader gave Su Xing Zhenren the Sect Leader Seal so he could negotiate better terms with Di Sui over Li Ye's contract with Bitter Journey Academy.
• Li Ye settled into a garden residence, unfolded Jianmu Space, and projected his Lesser World to inspect the Wenxing Bamboo and other supplies Bitter Journey Academy had delivered.
• Li Ye discovered the Wenxing Bamboo's starlight rings were integral to their power and used the Heartfelt Melody to investigate the seven stars.
• Li Ye arranged the seven Wenxing Bamboo in the Big Dipper's outline, then played the Heartfelt Melody to link their starlight and awakened a spring that poured from his left eye.
• The Literary Dragon Turtle entered the starlight spring to erase its name from the registry of fate, while Tianquan Wenxing Bamboo asked Li Ye for the Sage Book.
• After Li Ye recited Heaven's Questions, darkness swallowed Jianmu's barrier and flooded into his Jian Tree World.

Li Ye successfully transformed the Wenxing Bamboo into a Big Dipper formation with the Star Spring, creating a new spirit plant and a Wenqi Star Turtle, then requested more materials to continue refining them. The academy’s Four Gentlemen arrived to inspect his results, while Chess Gentleman stayed behind to see his other new varieties.

• Li Ye arranged seven thousand Wenxing Bamboo across a Cloud Treasure sky curtain, and the Big Dipper Star Spring formed a waterfall that altered his Lesser World and transformed the Literary Dragon Turtle into a Wenqi Star Turtle.
• Li Ye used Star Spring water and Mountain Spirit’s spell art to unite seven Wenxing Bamboo into one Big Dipper Wenxing Bamboo, then requested another batch of bamboo and turtles and began further cultivation.
• Di Sui agreed with Su Xing Zhenren that Li Ye would receive his due reward and support for cooperation with the Four Seasons Sect, then put Su Xing to sleep for ten years with a flood of historical information.
• Zhuge Ce visited to see Li Ye’s perfected Wenxing Bamboo, and the academy’s Four Gentlemen arrived to inspect it on the Academy Head’s orders.
• Li Ye revealed that he had also cultivated mutated Myriad Sinking Bamboo and Still Ink Moss, and Chess Gentleman remained behind to examine them after the others departed.

Li Ye demonstrated his transformed Myriad Sinking Bamboo and Still Ink Moss to Chess Gentleman, who was impressed by their potential for Confucian cultivators. At the Spirit Demon Repository, Di Sui praised Li Ye’s Wenqi Star Turtle, offered him academy tokens and opportunities, and arranged for him to improve papermaking methods with the Four Seasons Sect before his trip to Du Su Mountain.

• Li Ye showed Chess Gentleman Bamboo Wood Ants that transformed into Confucian tools and produced shoots containing literary aura.
• Li Ye demonstrated Still Ink Moss cultivated inside Void Ink Silkworm cocoons, using its ink to store a Spirit Stone within the character for Dao.
• Chess Gentleman told Li Ye that the Seven-Star Literary Bamboo’s flaw had been resolved and brought him to meet Di Sui and Su Xing Zhenren.
• Di Sui gave Li Ye scroll fragments and a Book Mountain Token, then offered a Sea of Learning Token in exchange for the Wenqi Star Turtle and Li Ye’s help cultivating spirit plants.
• Su Xing Zhenren declined to hand over the Wenqi Star Turtle immediately and proposed discussing cooperation after the Four Seasons Sect cultivated more of them.
• Li Ye agreed to improve two papermaking methods, and Di Sui promised him access to Book Mountain and Sea of Learning after his return from Du Su Mountain.

Lu Qingce used ink from the newly sold Void Ink Silkworms and Sky-Floating Stone to send articles into Bitter Journey Academy’s Celestial Image Mural, prompting a rush of scholars and teachers. Li Ye returned to find the Dew-Bearing Magnolia Tree on the verge of a breakthrough, caught between becoming a deity and advancing along the immortal path.

• Lu Qingce rushed to Bitter Journey Bookstore and bought a Myriad Sinking Bamboo Ant and a Still Ink Moss Silkworm after scholars crowded the shop.
• Lu Qingce discovered the Bamboo-Wood Spirit Ant could transform into many forms and communicate with him, then bought a Pocket Mountain-River Box to house it.
• Lu Qingce used ink from the Void Ink Silkworm and Sky-Floating Stone to send an article into the Celestial Image Mural, drawing down pure literary qi.
• Other scholars copied Lu Qingce, and academy teachers concluded that Void Ink Silkworm ink benefited the mural and joined the rush to obtain it.
• Li Ye hurried back to his cave abode after the Spirit Vine reported that the Dew-Bearing Magnolia Tree had exceeded Golden Core-level spiritual power and was absorbing divine power.
• Li Ye saw that the tree was torn between becoming a deity and becoming a Transformation-Form Golden Core, and considered which path it should take.

Li Ye helped the Dew-Bearing Magnolia Tree resolve the chaos of its many absorbed consciousnesses and choose the immortal path while enfeoffing its companions as gods. The tree became the Golden Core Tree Immortal Li Yulan, and Li Ye discovered the Earth Book Fragment could awaken souls within its domain as well as support a growing Magnolia Blessed Land.

• Li Ye used the Immortal Light of the Heartfelt Melody to calm the Dew-Bearing Magnolia Tree’s consciousnesses and subdue its Crystalline Spirit Bees.
• Li Ye activated the Earth Book Fragment, forming an Earth Womb Membrane around the tree and its bees so the tree could become an immortal while its companions became gods.
• The Dew-Bearing Magnolia Tree endured its tribulation, and Li Ye gave it a Glass Honey Pearl to refine as its natal Magic Treasure.
• The tree transformed into a young man, whom Li Ye named Li Yulan, and Li Yulan showed him the soul-form magnolias and Crystalline Soul Bees under his protection.
• Li Yulan explained that the Earth Book could awaken souls that died within its range, provided they remained under its control.
• Li Ye surveyed the Magnolia Blessed Land, noting its improved honey and immortal nectar, and considered rebuilding its earth, spiritual, and water veins.

Li Ye completed the Magnolia Spirit Ground’s transformation, gave Li Yulan new spirit veins, and arranged sales of its valuable honey. While exploring his cave abode, he discovered that the Moon Spirit Pearl Clam was nurturing Gleaming Silver Osmanthus Pearls, then used moonlight and starlight to awaken them and sensed a Golden Core-level presence.

• Li Ye used the Earth Book to view the life panels of everything in the Magnolia Spirit Ground and gave Li Yulan ten fourth-grade spirit veins to rebuild its earth veins.
• After half a year, Li Ye and Li Yulan completed the spirit ground’s independent circulation and suspended it above the earth; Li Ye promised Li Yulan twenty percent of the honey sales.
• Spirit Vine told Li Ye that Crystalline Soul Honey had become highly sought after and that Yang Ke wanted to buy some; Li Ye said to supply him as long as the sect’s needs were met.
• Li Ye decided to stay with Spirit Vine, encountered the Beavers, and gave them books and writing materials, ordering them and their children to study.
• Li Ye rode a bamboo boat to the island in the lake, where he found Gleaming Silver Osmanthus Pearls inside the Moon Spirit Pearl Clam’s shells.
• Li Ye illuminated the clam with moonlight and starlight, causing it to release a terrifying Golden Core-level aura, and gripped his Sun-Moon Rings as spiritual power rose.

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.