Chapter Summaries

After a year of cultivation, Li Qing planned to refine a Water Entanglement Net and learned that the Flying Eagle Bandits had gained a Foundation Establishment cultivator and Tianhe Sect’s Ascension Ceremony was approaching. Back at his cave, he witnessed Rice Bucket break through to Mid First-tier and prepared to take him to the Eternal Night World after completing the net.

• Li Qing watered the Jade Locust Tree sprout, then decided to use the remaining months of his cave lease to refine a Water Entanglement Net instead of continuing hard cultivation.
• At Gathering Wind Tower, Li Qing heard that Demon Eagle Guest had reached Foundation Establishment and that Tianhe Sect had sent elders to deal with the Flying Eagle Bandits.
• Li Qing learned that Tianhe Sect’s Ascension Ceremony had been postponed until six months later, and decided to sell artifacts to its participants rather than compete.
• After returning to his cave, Li Qing discovered Rice Bucket was breaking through and watched him successfully reach Mid First-tier.
• Li Qing congratulated Rice Bucket, promised to seek out beast medicines for him, and said they would go to the Eternal Night World to capture strange beasts once he finished refining the net.

Li Qing refined the mid-grade Water Entanglement Net, gaining twenty-five years of lifespan and confirming his skill as an Artifact Refiner. After testing the net, he considered Tianhe Marketplace’s upcoming Ascension Ceremony and weighed improving his strength before pursuing a chance to join an Immortal Dao Sect.

• Li Qing spent many days weaving Azure Water Silk, dissolving Condensing Water Sand into it, embedding a Spirit Stabilizing Stone, tempering the net, and inscribing its spiritual patterns.
• Li Qing completed the Water Entanglement Net and received a twenty-five-year lifespan reward, bringing his remaining lifespan to three hundred and eighteen years.
• After sleeping for two days, Li Qing tested the net and found it tough and capable of hindering spiritual power and invading an entangled opponent’s flesh.
• Li Qing learned that the upcoming Ascension Ceremony in Tianhe Marketplace would admit the top fifty as Tianhe Sect disciples and award Foundation Establishment Pills to the top ten.
• Li Qing decided he might enter an Ascension Ceremony in five years if he reached Late Qi Refining and improved his defenses, while also considering using his Ascension Token to join Lingyun Sect.

Li Qing returned to the Hidden Area trade fair to sell his magic tools and gather intelligence, where Jiuxiao’s praise for his work repairing a spirit boat raised the other cultivators’ opinion of his artifact-refining ability. The gathering ended with news that the Tianhe Sect was preparing for its Ascension Ceremony.

• Li Qing refined and gathered magic tools to sell, then went to the Hidden Area trade fair hoping to earn spirit stones and hear useful information.
• Li Qing saw Liu Hanyue seeking an alchemist to refine Returning Origin Pills and offering the stall owner extra spirit stones to arrange a meeting.
• Li Qing listened as the cultivators traded goods and learned that Lingying had stopped buying Sky Star Grass while its discoverer was now selling it.
• Jiuxiao asked whether Li Qing could refine Mid-grade Magic Tools and revealed that Li Qing had repaired his spirit boat, prompting the gathering to treat Li Qing with greater respect.
• Li Qing modestly described his refining ability and promised to help within his means, before another cultivator reported that the Tianhe Sect was focused on its upcoming Ascension Ceremony.

At a trade fair, Li Qing heard rumors about the Tianhe Sect, the injured Liu Family patriarch, and the Shi Family before Ye Feng invited him to explore a dangerous secret realm. Li Qing declined and returned to his cave dwelling, choosing safer ways to earn spirit stones.

• Li Qing suspected the Tianhe Sect might use its Ascension Ceremony and Heavenly Spiritual Root disciple to draw out the force targeting it.
• Attendees said the Liu Family patriarch had been badly injured, possibly by the Flying Eagle Bandits, and Ku Zhu urged them to watch the Shi Family.
• Jiuxiao sought intelligence on strong Ascension Ceremony contenders, while Ku Zhu asked for information about the Shi Family of Medicine King Ridge.
• Ye Feng told Li Qing he had spent half a year exploring a secret realm and invited him to join an expedition because the other cultivator wanted his artifact-refining skills.
• Li Qing refused the invitation, then returned to his cave dwelling and planned to sell magic tools and capture exotic beasts in the Eternal Night World.

Gu Ming took Ye Feng into the ancient Soul Nurturing Temple secret realm, where they found restricted fields of thousand-year Sky Star Grass and searched for the Soul Nurturing Bell. When Ye Feng’s Soul Lantern began flickering, Li Qing feared Gu Ming had turned on him and rushed to the realm’s entrance, intending to ambush Gu Ming if he emerged.

• Gu Ming used the Ancient Jade and the moonlight to open the secret realm’s entrance, then told Ye Feng it had once been the hidden Soul Nurturing Temple.
• Gu Ming explained that the temple cultivated divine sense and that its restricted mountain peaks held fields of ancient Sky Star Grass beyond their reach.
• Gu Ming revealed that the Soul Nurturing Temple’s Soul Nurturing Bell could strengthen its wearer’s divine sense, then asked Ye Feng for the rented Crimson Shadow Umbrella.
• Li Qing saw Ye Feng’s Soul Lantern flicker and recalled Ye Feng’s warning that Gu Ming might kill him and his request to seek justice or reveal the secret realm’s location.
• Li Qing woke Rice Bucket, took a Soul Lantern and the Water Entanglement Net, and hurried toward the secret realm to wait for Gu Ming and ambush him.

Li Qing and Rice Bucket ambushed Gu Ming as he emerged from the Hidden Realm and killed him after a fierce fight. In the Eternal Night World, Li Qing counted the spoils and found that Ye Feng’s Soul Lantern still held a spark, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Li Qing and Rice Bucket concealed their auras near the hill and waited for the Hidden Realm’s moon gate to open, while Ye Feng’s Soul Lantern dimmed to a lone ember.
• Gu Ming emerged from the moon gate, and Li Qing trapped him with a Water Entanglement Net as a muscular figure attacked with the Peerless Hammer.
• Rice Bucket charged Gu Ming but was driven back by a spiritual sense attack, and Gu Ming recovered some Spiritual Power after resisting Li Qing’s Lightning Flash Talisman.
• Li Qing struck Gu Ming with the Stormy Pear Blossom Nail and finished him with a Dragon-like Dagger before Rice Bucket tore into the corpse.
• Li Qing gathered Gu Ming’s belongings and traveled to the Eternal Night World, where he saw that Ye Feng’s Soul Lantern still glowed and began sorting the spoils.

Li Qing searched Gu Ming’s belongings, finding valuable pills, herbs, magic tools, a mysterious jade pendant, and a lightning-blocking drum. After the pendant drew crimson moonlight and attracted danger, Li Qing rushed to Rice Bucket and found three strange beasts approaching.

• Li Qing inventoried Gu Ming’s Storage Bag and took his spirit stones, pills, Foundation Establishment Pill ingredients, and magic tools.
• Li Qing found a crescent jade pendant that drew Spiritual Power and Blood Moon light, then put it away before the crimson radiance could mutate him.
• Li Qing identified a Small Leather Drum that could block a limited number of lightning attacks and kept it as a secret artifact.
• Li Qing stored the stolen goods separately, kept Ye Feng’s Storage Bag, and planned to return to the secret realm to check whether Ye Feng was alive.
• Rice Bucket’s roar alerted Li Qing to an enemy, and Li Qing rushed over to find three strange beasts approaching.

Li Qing, Rice Bucket, and the Water Entanglement Net fought three frenzied exotic beasts in the Eternal Night World, and Li Qing captured two while Rice Bucket killed the third. Li Qing collected a Red Moon crystal core but refused to let Rice Bucket eat it, then prepared to leave and recover his Spiritual Power before nightfall.

• Rice Bucket and Li Qing fought three powerful exotic beasts, and the Water Entanglement Net trapped a Headless Black Ape.
• Li Qing wounded the Red-haired Twin-horned Lizard with the Crimson Shadow Umbrella and Flying Sword, then subdued it with the Peerless Hammer and his physical strength.
• Li Qing stored the dying Red-haired Twin-horned Lizard and the trapped Headless Black Ape in his Beast Taming Pouch.
• Rice Bucket tore apart the tentacled monster and revealed a large red crystal core containing Red Moon Secret Power.
• Rice Bucket wanted to eat the crystal core, but Li Qing refused and decided to test its effects on wild demon beasts instead.
• Li Qing prepared to take Rice Bucket out of the Eternal Night World so he could recover his Spiritual Power before nightfall.

Li Qing entered the Hidden Realm and found Ye Feng apparently dead, but discovered that a trace of Ye Feng’s soul survived inside a glowing green bottle. Ye Feng asked Li Qing to help him find a dying person or a recently dead body for possession, and Li Qing agreed as long as he did not have to kill anyone.

• Li Qing used the Jade Pendant to open a moonlight door and entered the Hidden Realm, where he saw enormous Sky Star Grass growing on restriction-protected mountain peaks.
• Li Qing followed battle traces to a Daoist temple and found Ye Feng lying motionless with fatal wounds, though Ye Feng’s Soul Lantern still glowed faintly.
• Li Qing searched Ye Feng and found a glowing green bottle that carried a trace of Ye Feng’s soul.
• Ye Feng told Li Qing he needed to possess a dying person or someone dead for less than two hours to live again, and that his soul would vanish if he found no body within half a year.
• Li Qing agreed to help Ye Feng find a suitable body but refused to kill anyone for the possession.

Li Qing learned that the Soul Nurturing Temple might contain a bell that could strengthen his spiritual sense, but the realm’s restrictions kept him from reaching its summit. He collected some Sky Star Grass and left, intending to seek a way past the restrictions later.

• Li Qing heard Ye Feng explain that the Soul Nurturing Temple might contain the Soul Nurturing Bell, a Secret Treasure that nourished the divine soul and increased spiritual sense.
• Li Qing decided to search for the bell, believing it could make up for his weakness in spiritual sense, while Ye Feng fell asleep inside the small bottle to conserve his divine soul.
• Li Qing climbed a Medicine Field Mountain Peak but was struck by a restriction and forced back by its attack.
• Li Qing tried other peaks and encountered powerful attacks, including restrictions that targeted spiritual sense, so he abandoned his attempt to reach the main peak.
• Li Qing used the Crimson Shadow Umbrella to gather mature Sky Star Grass from several mountain slopes, searched the realm once more, and prepared to return to Tianhe Marketplace to consider studying restrictions.

After returning to Tianhe Marketplace, Li Qing cultivated with Sky Star Grass, pills, and the Essence Augmentation Secret Art while taking advantage of the busy marketplace to sell magic tools. A young cultivator offered an ancient Jade Ruyi in barter, and Li Qing became absorbed in its mysterious internal inscriptions.

• Li Qing returned to his cave abode and began consuming Sky Star Grass to gradually strengthen his Spiritual Sense.
• Li Qing divided his time between cultivating with Guangling Pills, practicing the Essence Augmentation Secret Art, and increasing his Spiritual Sense.
• Li Qing spent more than a month cultivating while selling magic tools in the crowded Tianhe Marketplace ahead of the Ascension Ceremony.
• A plain young man asked Li Qing to barter a Low-grade Magic Tool for his Golden Platform Seal.
• The young man showed Li Qing an ancient Jade Ruyi, whose unusually carved internal inscriptions baffled and intrigued him.

Li Qing tested a Jade Ruyi that concealed his aura, only to realize its seller had escaped with his Golden Platform Seal. As the Tianhe Sect's Ascension Ceremony approached, Li Qing left his cave dwelling, studied the event's contenders, and heard rumors that a Heavenly Spiritual Root would participate.

• Li Qing activated the Jade Ruyi and discovered that its aura-concealing ability was exceptionally strong, but its seller had vanished with the Golden Platform Seal.
• Li Qing packed his belongings, carefully retrieved the Jade Locust Tree sapling, and discussed finding a body for Ye Feng during the Ascension Ceremony.
• Li Qing left his cave dwelling and turned to buying scripture inheritances when the crowded marketplace made it difficult to secure a stall.
• Li Qing bought a detailed Ascension Ceremony intelligence report and read about contenders including Shi Nantian, Xiao Wuya, and Huo Lingyu.
• Li Qing heard cultivators at Gathering Wind Tower discuss a rumored Heavenly Spiritual Root participant who was already a Supreme Elder's final disciple.

As the Ascension Ceremony began, Li Qing avoided Tianhe Marketplace and released two exotic beasts from the Eternal Night World in the forest. When the beasts absorbed immense amounts of spiritual energy and grew more dangerous, cultivators arrived nearby, leaving Li Qing concealed and watching.

• Li Qing decided to avoid the Ascension Ceremony, bought cultivation pills and an incomplete artifact-refining inheritance, and left Tianhe Marketplace.
• Shi Nantian coldly ignored Li Qing, while nearby cultivators mocked Li Qing for trying to approach him; Liu Hanyue also recognized Li Qing and passed him without speaking.
• After Li Qing left, Shi Nantian dominated his first match, while Xiao Wuya, Huo Lingyu, and the unknown Jiuxiao drew attention at the Ascension Ceremony.
• Li Qing released the two exotic beasts from the Eternal Night World in the forest after checking that Ye Feng's remnant soul remained asleep.
• The beasts absorbed a vast amount of spiritual energy, grew several times larger, and became more savage as Li Qing concealed himself with a Jade Ruyi.
• When sounds of cultivators approaching came from the sky, Li Qing used a Breath Concealing Talisman to hide himself further.

Li Qing secretly watched the Flying Eagle Bandits battle and capture two newly transformed strange beasts, then learned that they served an Upper Sect and planned to wipe out the Tianhe Sect. The chapter left the Bandits confident their operation would succeed despite Liu Hongyuan’s suspicion that the Tianhe Sect’s Ascension Ceremony was bait.

• Li Qing hid from the Flying Eagle Bandits as Demon Eagle Guest and Liu Hongyuan arrived to investigate the transformed Headless Black Ape and Red-haired Twin-horned Lizard.
• The Red-haired Twin-horned Lizard killed and devoured several bandits, but Li Qing saw that feeding on blood did not calm its violent frenzy.
• Demon Eagle Guest led the bandits and his Sky-Rending Eagle in a fierce battle, and they captured both strange beasts at heavy cost.
• Demon Eagle Guest found the beasts could not be tamed, ordered the Red-haired Twin-horned Lizard sent to the Upper Sect, and had the Headless Black Ape slaughtered.
• Li Qing overheard Demon Eagle Guest say the Flying Eagle Bandits planned to wipe out the Tianhe Sect, while Liu Hongyuan suspected the Sect’s Ascension Ceremony was bait.

Li Qing helped Ye Feng possess the body of a young cultivator, and Ye Feng revealed that Shangqing Sect was behind the Flying Eagle Bandits and was preparing for conflict with Tianhe Sect. Ye Feng declined Li Qing’s offer to hide in the Hidden Realm and set off for Tianhe Marketplace, resolved to survive the coming chaos and repay Li Qing.

• A Flying Eagle Bandit found a strange scarlet crystal in the Headless Black Ape, and Demon Eagle Guest kept it rather than letting his Sky-Rending Eagle eat it.
• Li Qing stayed hidden until the Flying Eagle Bandits and their scouting eagle left, then searched their fallen comrades for a body Ye Feng could possess.
• Li Qing helped Ye Feng’s remnant soul enter a seventeen-year-old cultivator’s body with a Three-element Spiritual Root, and Ye Feng eventually awakened.
• Ye Feng told Li Qing that Shangqing Sect backed the Flying Eagle Bandits and that a nearby Cultivation Family had supplied them with Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Li Qing returned Ye Feng’s Storage Bag and gave him Sky Star Grass, but Ye Feng declined to hide in the Hidden Realm and headed toward Tianhe Marketplace.

Liu Huai'an, a Heavenly Spiritual Root disciple of a Core Formation True Person, challenged the Ascension Ceremony's top cultivators while the Tianhe Sect elders allowed him to spar. Meanwhile, Ye Feng warned the elders that the Shangqing Sect planned to attack Tianhe Marketplace, and an explosion at the protective formation confirmed the assault had begun.

• Liu Huai'an appeared on the final day of the Ascension Ceremony and challenged the leading contestants, revealing his tenth-layer Qi Refining cultivation and Heavenly Spiritual Root.
• Elder Suxin confirmed that Liu Huai'an was Uncle-Master Wan's disciple, and the elders permitted him to spar with the top contestants without affecting their rankings.
• Liu Huai'an began fighting the rogue cultivator surnamed Lei as the Tianhe Sect elders watched closely in case either fighter was seriously injured.
• Ye Feng arrived in a seized body and told the elders that the Shangqing Sect controlled the Flying Eagle Bandits and planned to attack Tianhe Marketplace after the ceremony.
• An explosion struck the entrance to Tianhe Marketplace's protective grand formation, as high-grade barrier-breaking talismans destroyed a floating island.

Shangqing Sect attacked Tianhe Marketplace, blasted open its protective formation, and sent its Mountain-Bearing Tortoise to face Tianhe Sect’s defenders. True Man Wanshan confronted the invasion, but Shangqing Sect’s Exquisite Treasure Body appeared and challenged him as the battle began.

• Shangqing Sect attackers used six Third-tier Forbidden Breaking Talismans to damage Tianhe Marketplace’s formation, then bombarded its gaps with Second-tier talismans.
• Tianhe Sect elders activated the Five Elements Dragon Transformation Formation, but Shangqing Sect’s Mountain-Bearing Tortoise blocked its killing beam as invaders charged toward the Ascension Ceremony.
• True Man Wanshan arrived to defend the marketplace, prompting Tianhe Sect’s cultivators to rally around him.
• Shangqing Sect’s Exquisite Treasure Body appeared, accused Wanshan of invading her sect over twenty years earlier, and vowed to kill him and target his Heavenly Spiritual Root disciple.
• Wanshan ordered Huai'an to leave and fought the Exquisite Treasure Body, who claimed her Exquisite Immortal Sound could injure his Spiritual Sense even while she remained in the False Core realm.

Li Qing warned the Liu Family about the coming upheaval, then learned that the Shangqing Sect had attacked Tianhe Marketplace and the Exquisite Treasure Body had returned with overwhelming power. He entered his Hidden Realm to cultivate in seclusion, planted his Jade Locust Tree, and began considering how to uncover the treasures behind the realm’s restrictions.

• Li Qing delivered the Liu Family a letter about the coming chaos and the Flying Eagle Bandits, then left before the family could find him.
• News spread that the Shangqing Sect had captured Tianhe Marketplace and that the Exquisite Treasure Body had returned at the False Core Formation realm.
• Li Qing received Ye Feng's letter, learned that True Man Wanshan's incarnation had been killed, and burned the message before entering the Hidden Realm with Rice Bucket.
• Li Qing warned Rice Bucket away from the restricted peaks, planted the Jade Locust Tree sapling, and built a wooden hut nearby.
• Li Qing surveyed the restricted mountains and their treasures, resolved to find a way through the restrictions, and prepared to cultivate.

Li Qing used his years of secluded cultivation to master the True Explanation of Restrictions, then devised a way to use exotic beasts from the Eternal Night World to wear down the main peak’s defenses. After capturing seven low-level beasts and narrowly escaping a Second-order Exotic Beast, he prepared to lure the beasts into attacking the restrictions.

• Li Qing remained blocked at the Late Qi Refining bottleneck but strengthened his magic power and Spiritual Sense, mastered the True Explanation of Restrictions, and watched his Jade Locust Tree grow.
• Li Qing studied the main peak’s complex restrictions and concluded that he could weaken them by repeatedly triggering them with cannon fodder.
• Li Qing decided to use exotic beasts from the Eternal Night World, then took Rice Bucket there and captured seven beasts of early first-order strength.
• Li Qing and Rice Bucket fled a powerful Second-order Exotic Beast and returned safely to the secret realm.
• Li Qing prepared to conceal his aura and use blood and scarlet crystals as bait, planning to send the exotic beasts against the main peak’s restrictions.

Li Qing used a Horned White Snake’s attack to break a crucial restriction on the Soul Nurturing Temple’s main peak, then spent two months opening a safe path to the summit. Inside the abandoned temple, he searched for the Soul Nurturing Bell and useful inheritances, but the treasures and jade-slip records he found had mostly been lost to time.

• The Horned White Snake shattered the restricted boulder after Li Qing lured it to attack with blood and red crystals, and Li Qing collected its body and the crystals.
• Li Qing noticed that blood seemed to reduce the Red Moon Secret Power and Killing Intent in the crystals, and considered testing whether blood-washed crystals could safely be fed to demon beasts.
• Li Qing used his knowledge of the True Explanation of Restrictions to dismantle the main peak’s restrictions over two months and entered the Soul Nurturing Temple.
• Li Qing found the temple’s empty main hall, where a stone bell appeared to be the object of worship, then explored the backyard in search of the Soul Nurturing Bell.
• Li Qing searched the wooden houses and pavilion, finding jade slips with incomplete spiritual-sense techniques and a fragmented Star Soul Pill formula.