Chapter Summaries

Chen Mu secured an assignment to transfer from East Ridge Five Mountains to Jilong Dao Upper Courtyard, then successfully refined his first Baizhang Pill at Mist Smoke Mountain. He planned to arrange a replacement for his Scripture Hall position so he could leave the mountain.

• Chen Mu bribed the Bamboo Courtyard manager to find him work outside East Ridge and was offered a place at Jilong Dao Upper Courtyard when a disciple from Pill Treasure Pavilion transferred away.
• Chen Mu continued experimenting with the Baizhang Pill and used his growing alchemy experience to refine one successfully.
• Chen Mu examined the pill and confirmed it absorbed nearby Poison Miasma, which could later be released to help refine more pills.
• Chen Mu decided he needed to find someone to replace him as a Collator at the Scripture Transmission Courtyard before leaving Mist Smoke Mountain.

Chen Mu completed his Tongxi Baizhang Pill training, discovered that his Tier 5 Giant Spirit God doubled his strength from his current state, and sorted through the spoils from Sun Wujiu and his companions. He arranged for Jia Tian to find someone to replace him as Collator at Mist Smoke Mountain while preparing to leave East Ridge.

• Chen Mu maxed out his Tongxi Baizhang Pill experience, refined more than eighty pills, and reviewed his progress cultivating the Yellow Springs General Outline and Giant Spirit God.
• Chen Mu learned that Tier 5 Giant Spirit God doubled his strength based on his state when activated and decided to meet the Wushan Six Siblings before leaving East Ridge.
• Chen Mu took out and sorted the belongings seized from Sun Wujiu and the others, finding White Jade Coins, metal ingots, and other goods but not the Seven Kill Binding Curse or Two Realms Isolation Magic Restriction.
• Chen Mu asked Jia Tian to find a replacement for his Collator shift at Mist Smoke Mountain before the next Cloud Bat Airship arrived.
• Jia Tian asked to sell Chen Mu's newly refined Baizhang Pills through his trading company, and Chen Mu agreed on the condition that Jia Tian quickly arrange his replacement.

Chen Mu arranged to refine Baizhang Pills for Jia Tian while preparing to leave East Ridge, then watched Mist Smoke Mountain come under a devastating attack. The mountain’s protection formation failed, and the chapter ended with fireballs striking the mountain.

• Jia Tian found a replacement for Chen Mu’s Collator position and offered him White Jade to refine Baizhang Pills anonymously.
• Jia Tian delivered pill materials, arranged Chen Mu’s handover and supplies, and suggested hiring the Wushan Siblings for protection amid rising violence linked to the Sun Clan.
• Chen Mu declined protection, believing he would leave East Ridge soon and could handle any threat short of Sun Jian.
• Several nights later, Chen Mu saw a vast dark cloud cover the sky above Mist Smoke Mountain and watched fireballs pour from it.
• The mountain’s protection formation initially blocked the fireballs, but an underground explosion made it collapse, leaving Mist Smoke Mountain engulfed in crimson light and blasts.

Liyang Dao attacked Mist Smoke Mountain, forcing Chen Mu to flee underground while Liu Ling confronted Sun Jian and his allies. Chen Mu became trapped in a lightning-filled cave, and Liu Ling’s standoff with Sun Jian ended with an unknown attacker severing Sun Jian’s left arm.

• A Crimson Robe Daoist destroyed Chen Mu’s Bamboo Building and attacked him, but Chen Mu escaped underground with Earth Escape.
• Chen Mu hid beneath Mist Smoke Mountain and listened as Liyang Dao attacked, deciding to wait underground rather than risk an ambush outside.
• At Cloud Top Palace, Liu Ling confronted Sun Jian over his betrayal of Jilong Dao, while Daoist Huiming and Yang Huan arrived to support him.
• Chen Mu was teleported into an underground cave where lightning and invisible pressure pinned him down; after other captives fell silent, one urged him to use any remaining tricks to escape.
• Daoist Huiming urged Liu Ling to join a merger of factions, while Sun Jian said he had been offered a Foundation Establishment Secret Technique.
• A tall, lean figure appeared behind Sun Jian and severed his left arm.

Chen Mu tried to escape the cave trap but found its lightning pearl and invisible pressure thwarted his techniques and Thunder Gathering Talismans. Above Mist Smoke Mountain, Sun Jian discovered that the Snow Demon had turned Qing Lu, Fu Zi, and Yang Huan into puppets and fled, realizing the trap targeted both him and Liyang Dao.

• Chen Mu released poisonous miasma from shattered Qi Storage Gourds, knocking everyone in the cave unconscious.
• Chen Mu failed to destroy the lightning pearl or soften the rock walls, and the resulting Kuishui Yinlei left him badly numb.
• Chen Mu used Five Ghosts Possession and tried to divert the lightning with Thunder Gathering Talismans, but all thirty-six talismans were destroyed and the cave's invisible pressure intensified.
• Sun Jian confronted Qing Lu and learned that Qing Lu, Fu Zi, and Yang Huan had become puppets of the Snow Demon Qing Liu.
• Sun Jian fled through the clouds, realizing the trap had been set for both him and Liyang Dao.

While trapped beneath Mist Smoke Mountain, Chen Mu opened a new Secret Aperture under the Yin Thunder and gained true Earth Evasion, allowing him to escape the cave’s Prohibition. He discovered Jilong Dao had repelled Liyang Dao, killed a Crimson Robe Daoist who entered the cave, and decided to help the poisoned survivors for a fee.

• Chen Mu endured the cave’s Yin Thunder and continued digging until a new Secret Aperture opened in his body.
• Chen Mu’s new aperture resonated with the earth, letting him escape underground and evade the cave’s Prohibition.
• Chen Mu learned through True Hearing that Jilong Dao had counterattacked Liyang Dao and that Sun Jian had fled.
• A Crimson Robe Daoist crawled to Chen Mu’s pit seeking an escape route, and Chen Mu killed him with Yin Fault.
• Chen Mu returned to the cave and decided to detoxify the unconscious survivors, send word for them, and charge them for the favor.

After the turmoil on Mist Smoke Mountain, Chen Mu learned that Sun Jian and the Sun Clan had fallen, then gave Jia Tian a batch of Baizhang Pills on credit. Three days later, Chen Mu tested his newly improved techniques, retrieved the Red Skin Gourd, and prepared to seek help for the people trapped in the Underground Cave.

• Jia Tian visited Chen Mu and told him Dean Qing had killed Sun Jian, leaving the Sun Clan on Mist Smoke Mountain ruined and under the Patrol Institute's watch.
• Chen Mu gave Jia Tian a box containing a little over three hundred Baizhang Pills, and Jia Tian promised to repay him within half a month.
• Three days later, Chen Mu tested Vertical Rainbow Light and Five Ghosts Possession, finding that his strength had increased and the possession's side effects had weakened.
• Chen Mu wondered whether Sun Jian's Kuishui Yinlei had ended up in the Scripture Transmission Courtyard and resolved to investigate after reaching Jilong Dao's Upper Courtyard.
• Chen Mu used True Hearing Technique to locate and retrieve the Red Skin Gourd, then set out to seek help for the people in the Underground Cave.

After discovering that Jia Tian had sold him counterfeit Thunder Gathering Talismans and nearly led him into danger, Chen Mu abducted Jia Tian and his shopkeeper and left them trapped in the Underground Cave. With Jilong Dao preparing a counterattack against Liyang Dao, Chen Mu declined to enlist and returned to his alchemy hut to cultivate in safety.

• Jia Tian used money meant for Chen Mu’s Baizhang Pill to buy up looted goods, then planned to abandon his shop and deny selling counterfeit goods, including Chen Mu’s Thunder Gathering Talismans.
• Chen Mu realized Jia Tian had scammed him and might have gotten him killed, so he knocked Jia Tian and the burly shopkeeper unconscious and dragged them into the Underground Cave.
• Chen Mu brought Jia Tian into the cave, where the Prohibition was weakening, and joked that Gongsun Sheng and Lu Zhishen were responsible for what happened to him.
• At the Mist Smoke Mountain Affairs Office, Chen Mu learned that Jilong Dao had issued a Recruitment Order for a counterattack against Liyang Dao, offering rewards to volunteers.
• Chen Mu refused to enlist, returned to his Wooden Cabin Alchemy Hut, and decided to use the relative calm at Mist Smoke Mountain to gain experience.

Chen Mu learned that the Gourd Sword Box could automatically forge Vermilion Feather flying swords and began refining one while declining to join Jilong Dao’s campaign against Liyang Dao. A month later, he bought the Cicada Mother-Child Spell to pilot his nearly completed sword, despite its steep cost.

• Chen Mu activated the Gourd Sword Box and discovered it could turn supplied materials into Vermilion Feather flying swords.
• When a Cloud Bat Airship arrived with disciples answering Jilong Dao’s Recruitment Order, Chen Mu decided to stay at Mist Smoke Mountain and refine Fasting Pills instead.
• Chen Mu spent a month cultivating, refining pills, and infusing the Gourd Sword Box with dharma power until the Vermilion Feather Sword nearly took shape.
• At the Scripture Transmission Courtyard, Chen Mu chose the Cicada Mother-Child Spell to pilot his flying sword but found that its supplementary scroll contained no Incantation.
• Chen Mu paid 460 White Jade and 80 Dao Merit for the true technique Jade Slip, then left wary of Dean Qing and other powerful experts.

After Jilong Dao won its war against Liyang Dao, Chen Mu learned that he still had to report to the damaged Upper Courtyard and prepared to leave Mist Smoke Mountain. Meanwhile, Lu Ku and the other five members of his group debated how to respond to Gongsun Sheng’s summons, fearing he might try to take their cultivation.

• Chen Mu watched the Vermilion Feather flying sword take shape in his Sword Box Gourd as the Cloud Bat Airship returned to Yanxia Mountain.
• A shopkeeper told a wounded fighter that Jilong Dao had won, that Dao Master Dongli had frozen Dao Master Li, and that many fighters had stayed behind to guard newly gained territory.
• Chen Mu learned at the Affairs Office that he still had to report to the Upper Courtyard, which needed staff after Liyang Dao’s attack, and began preparing to leave.
• At a Liyang Dao Other Courtyard, Xu Rao and the others killed the last fleeing Liyang Dao disciples in the area.
• Lu Ku and the others discussed Gongsun Sheng’s summons and worried that he might use a heretical technique to seize their cultivation, while acknowledging that striking first would give them only a narrow chance.

Chen Mu learned that Aperture Condensing Secret Techniques had become available by layers and headed for Jilong Mountain to obtain them. Meanwhile, the Wushan Six Siblings realized Gongsun Sheng had secretly improved their secret methods, leaving them afraid of how easily he could reach them.

• Jia Tian paid Chen Mu for the Baizhang Pills and told him that Aperture Condensing Secret Techniques could now be exchanged for by layers.
• Chen Mu checked the Scripture Hall catalog, saw that the Kuishui Yinlei and Yellow Springs General Outline were listed, and decided to go to Jilong Mountain.
• The Wushan Six Siblings met Shang Huan and learned that he had suddenly entered the beginner stage of the Ten Directions Hand without ghost qi.
• After Shang Huan left, Lu Ku discovered that his Qianji Method had advanced, and the siblings concluded that Gongsun Sheng had secretly interfered with their secret methods.

Chen Mu arrived at Jilong Mountain to take over Qi Yi's alchemy duties and learned that the Upper Courtyard would relocate to Jade Spring Mountain, leaving Jilong as a safer Other Courtyard. He settled into his assigned residence, then bought two expensive secret arts at the Scripture Transmission Courtyard.

• During the airship journey, Chen Mu reviewed the Qianji Method and realized it could control artifact flying swords, making the Cicada Mother-Child Spell unnecessary.
• At Pill Treasure Pavilion, Chen Mu learned that Jilong Mountain's damaged Earth Vein would lead to its conversion into an Other Courtyard and that the Upper Courtyard was moving to Jade Spring Mountain.
• Chen Mu welcomed the change because he expected the Other Courtyard to be safer and less entangled in conflicts, then moved into his assigned residence on Chaoyang Mountain.
• Chen Mu noticed that Jilong Mountain's vital qi was unusually sparse and wondered whether Earth Vein changes affected all Seven Daos of Yunzhou.
• At the Scripture Transmission Courtyard, Chen Mu paid the required White Jade and Dao Merit for the Yellow Springs General Outline and Kuishui Yinlei.

After a month at Jilong Mountain, Chen Mu tested the Vermilion Feather Sword and discovered how the Qianji Secret Method enabled long-range control and autonomous movement. He also listened to a lecture on the Daoist cultivation path, then left without buying the Scripture Doctor’s cultivation advice because he had little money left.

• Chen Mu practiced the Vermilion Feather Sword, marveling at its speed, armor-piercing power, and the Qianji Secret Method’s sensory feedback.
• Chen Mu observed the sword fly around him on its own and reasoned that the Qianji Method could teach magical tools to act autonomously.
• At Listening to Waves Pavilion, a Black-robed Middle-aged Man explained the orthodox cultivation stages from forming the Purple Mansion Mud Pill to establishing a Dao Foundation.
• The Scripture Doctor advertised his personally tested cultivation advice for nine hundred and ninety-nine White Jade Coins.
• Chen Mu left the Scripture Transmission Courtyard without buying the advice, since the Kuishui Yinlei and Aperture Condensing Secret Technique had left him with only a little over two thousand White Jade Coins.

Chen Mu spent his dwindling savings on Earth Spirit Rhinoceros Horn and used it with Poison Miasma to refine 933 Tongxi Baizhang Pills, but he could not find a safe buyer or travel to Jade Spring Mountain. At the Chaoyang Mountain Market, he reunited with Yuanbao and Mo Wuzhou, who might provide the sales connection he needed.

• Chen Mu realized that relocating residents might create demand for poison-resistant medicines and bought ten pieces of Earth Spirit Rhinoceros Horn.
• Chen Mu refined 933 Tongxi Baizhang Pills over five days, using nearly all his horn and Poison Miasma.
• Chen Mu worried that selling the valuable pills through an unfamiliar shop would attract attention and considered finding Jia Tian at Jade Spring Mountain.
• Chen Mu learned that Cloud Bat Airships were reserved for the Upper Courtyard's relocation, leaving him without a safe way to reach Jade Spring Mountain.
• Chen Mu encountered Yuanbao and Mo Wuzhou at the Chaoyang Mountain Market and recognized Mo Wuzhou as a potential buyer for the pills.

Chen Mu sold more than nine hundred Tongxi Baizhang Pills through Mo Wuzhou, then helped him investigate Jilong Mountain’s underground water veins as the Upper Courtyard’s spirit fields were developed. After half a year, Chen Mu advanced his cultivation and gained a new ability to merge into plants, leaving him puzzled about the Cloud Mirage bloodline within him.

• Chen Mu asked Mo Wuzhou to sell his Tongxi Baizhang Pills and offered him a thirty-percent cut, while Mo Wuzhou suspected Chen Mu had also made the Wood Spirit Guards Shang Huan sold.
• Mo Wuzhou sold more than nine hundred pills through the Pill Treasure Pavilion and paid Chen Mu nine thousand White Jade Coins, then asked him to investigate Jilong Mountain’s underground water veins for five hundred coins.
• Chen Mu and Mo Wuzhou searched beneath Jilong Mountain while the Upper Courtyard relocation finished and new Lower Academy Disciples began reclaiming spirit fields.
• Over the next half year, Chen Mu helped transform Jilong Mountain’s land into spirit fields while continuing his cultivation and condensing a sixth-layer Divine Aperture Talisman and a Secret Aperture.
• Chen Mu discovered he could merge into plants and wondered whether the Cloud Mirage bloodline in his body was connected to the Yin Soul Monsters.

Chen Mu began cultivating Kuishui Yinlei to improve his control over thunder and help him open Secret Apertures, while his True Hearing Technique advanced and gained greater subtlety. As Jilong Mountain’s Market changed and he bought a larger pill furnace, he learned that Jilong Dao was expanding into newly conquered territories, raising his concern that conflict might spread.

• Chen Mu added Kuishui Yinlei to his cultivation schedule and learned the technique from its Jade Slip, gaining a new entry on the Gray Wall.
• Chen Mu discovered that his newly advanced True Hearing Technique could discern the subtle sounds and emotions of Yellow Sprout Rice while remaining more concealed.
• As the Yellow Sprout Rice harvest ripened, Chen Mu arranged for two Alchemy Apprentices to prepare the Essence of Five Grains for his Fasting Pill work.
• Chen Mu visited the shrinking Market and bought a large pill furnace from the Hundred Treasures Pavilion for one thousand White Jade.
• The Red-Nosed Shopkeeper told Chen Mu that Jilong Dao had conquered two small sects and was recruiting skilled people to develop the new territories, leaving Chen Mu worried that the region would grow chaotic again.

Chen Mu worried that Jilong Dao's territorial expansion might bring chaos, but its victories eased his fears as he kept to a cautious routine. Yuanbao visited with a giant beetle, which Chen Mu turned into Return Vitality Soup for the toad.

• Chen Mu suspected shifting earth veins were driving Jilong Dao's expansion and resolved to practice Kuishui Yinlei so he could escape danger.
• Chen Mu delivered two thousand four hundred Fasting Pills and bought the available Golden Pearls and Green Jade Tortoise Shells for future Foundation Cultivation Pills.
• Chen Mu used True Hearing Technique to follow news of Jilong Dao's campaigns and heard that the Wushan Six Siblings had distinguished themselves in battle.
• Yuanbao visited Chen Mu, brought him a giant Mutant Beast beetle, and asked for Return Vitality Soup.
• Chen Mu extracted the beetle's essence to make Return Vitality Soup, which Yuanbao drank before settling by the door.

Chen Mu’s Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Incantation reached its limit and awakened the Yama Heavenly Son Order, while a group of Heavenly Demon Monsters struggled to lure a Calamity Demon toward Jilong Mountain. The chapter left the demons preparing to continue their dangerous plan near the mountain.

• Mo Wuzhou questioned Chen Mu about Yuanbao’s repeated visits, then joined Chen Mu for dinner and enjoyed his cooking.
• After Mo Wuzhou left, Chen Mu resumed cultivating while Jilong Mountain settled into its new order as the Other Courtyard.
• Chen Mu discovered that the Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Incantation had reached its limit and gained the Yama Heavenly Son Order, which could command Yinhun.
• A Calamity Demon emerged in a valley less than a hundred li from Jilong Mountain, draining the life from the valley’s plants and creatures.
• The bearded burly man accused his subordinates of embezzling the Longevity Wine meant to lure the Calamity Demon, then ordered them to continue drawing it toward Jilong Mountain.

Chen Mu discovered that Yellow Sprout Rice and medicinal plants on Jilong Mountain were suffering from Withered Disease, a condition that could eventually turn the mountain barren. As the fields deteriorated despite efforts to stop it, a strange snake-faced smoke apparition appeared at his window and vanished after chilling his hand.

• Chen Mu heard the Yellow Sprout Rice wailing and found that its stalks were weakening from a lack of Earth Spirit Vital Qi.
• Chen Mu suspected something was stealing the rice’s vital qi, but neither Yuanbao nor Mo Wuzhou could identify the cause.
• Mo Wuzhou told Chen Mu that the symptoms resembled Withered Disease, which had turned Chongshan Dao’s mountain gate barren.
• The Yellow Sprout Rice and medicinal fields rapidly withered, and Song Wuji’s spirit insects and the disciples’ treatments failed to halt the spread.
• A grinning Five Ghosts Paper Figure arrived at Chen Mu’s window riding a snake-shaped smoke cloud whose face suddenly appeared before him.
• Chen Mu struck at the apparition, felt a bone-deep cold in his hand, and watched the smoke vanish.

Chen Mu suspected the human-faced white smoke was connected to the Withered Disease and nudged Mo Wuzhou to consider a creature that could evade detection. After a void-sealing Magical Prohibition was set up around Jilong Mountain, explosions and strange mist erupted on the mountain, and Chen Mu watched from underground.

• Chen Mu questioned the Five Ghosts Paper Figures about the human-faced white smoke, then searched the Scripture Transmission Courtyard for information but found nothing.
• Chen Mu hinted to Mo Wuzhou that an unusual creature might evade investigation by slipping into the void, prompting Mo Wuzhou to report the idea to Song Wuji.
• Unfamiliar cultivators arrived at Jilong Mountain and set up sealing Magical Prohibitions across the mountain.
• Chen Mu’s Qianji Method reached the fifth rank, giving him eight more Spell Talisman Spirit Seeds and the ability to control nine spell swords.
• A vast pale mist spread over Jilong Mountain as explosions and red flashes broke out, and an invisible force sealed the area around the mountain.
• Chen Mu concluded that Song Wuji had caught the white-smoke creature and sank underground to watch from a safe distance.