Chapter Summaries

Li Qing finally condensed the Shattering Yuan Great Fire Seal after nearly a year of failure, but discovered that forming too many seals would hinder his cultivation. After testing its power, he decided to leave seclusion and serve as an Artifact Refining Elder to gain access to pills and information about Heaven and Earth Spirit Fires.

• Li Qing condensed his first Shattering Yuan Great Fire Seal after repeated failures and decided to nurture it over time.
• Li Qing formed a second seal, then a third, and realized that the third imposed a substantial burden on his cultivation.
• Li Qing launched the third seal at a mountainside, blasting a crater and confirming its power even before it had been nurtured.
• Li Qing weighed his options for improving his cultivation and concluded that he needed either a Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire or a steady supply of pills.
• Li Qing decided to leave seclusion and join the Artifact Refining Hall as an Artifact Refining Elder, where he could study his inheritance and seek pills and information about spirit fires.

Li Qing joined the Artifact Refining Hall as an elder, learned to use its formation and Fire Essence Crocodiles for refining, and found a way to request materials for his Sky Net Banner. Hoping to earn Contribution Points, he searched the Hall’s commissions and chose a Foundation Establishment elder’s request for a restraining High-grade Magic Tool.

• Li Qing met Wen Zihong, who explained the Artifact Refining Hall’s duties, commissions, and elders’ ability to request spiritual materials.
• Li Qing learned to operate the Fire Sourcing Formation and use the Fire Essence Crocodiles’ Demonic Fire to refine artifacts.
• Li Qing examined the available commissions and saw that completing them could earn Contribution Points.
• Li Qing selected a Foundation Establishment elder’s commission for a restraining High-grade Magic Tool, whose client offered to gather the needed materials.

Li Qing accepted Elder Xu’s commission to refine a high-grade binding Magic Tool because he urgently needed Contribution Points to buy Purple Sun Pills. After discussing Elder Xu’s requirements, Li Qing designed a Spirit Restraining Rope and sent him a list of materials; Elder Xu began gathering them while doubting Li Qing’s ability.

• Li Qing accepted Elder Xu’s commission despite a disciple’s warning that Elder Xu had rejected other elders’ work.
• Two days later, Elder Xu questioned Li Qing’s experience and warned that he would withhold payment if the tool failed to meet his standards.
• Elder Xu explained that he needed the binding tool to face a mid second-tier Ice Spirit Toad in the Forbidden Speech Snowfield.
• Li Qing chose to refine a rope-shaped Spirit Restraining Rope and listed Void Spirit Vine or second-tier python tendons among its possible main materials.
• Elder Xu grumbled about the number of requested materials but decided to gather them and considered asking Junior Sister Yiyun for the tendons of a Blood Fiend Python.

Li Qing used five-element spirit materials and a Blood Fiend Python tendon to forge the Five Elements Binding Spirit Rope, a powerful High-grade Magic Tool. As the spiritual-energy tide faded, the finished rope landed in Li Qing’s hand, and figures hurried toward him to see who had caused the disturbance.

• Li Qing received all the spirit materials from Elder Xu and traveled to the Artifact Refining Hall to begin forging the Binding Spirit Rope.
• Li Qing used the Fire Sourcing Formation’s Demonic Fire to remove the Killing Intent from two Blood Fiend Python tendons.
• Li Qing fused the five elemental essences into one tendon, shaped it into a rope, and inscribed spirit patterns for all five elements.
• Elder Wen learned that Li Qing had accepted Xu Changyun’s commission and worried that the eccentric Elder Xu would be dissatisfied.
• Seven days later, Li Qing completed the Five Elements Binding Spirit Rope as a five-colored spiritual-energy tide surged through Artifact Refining Valley.
• Li Qing praised the finished High-grade Magic Tool, and figures rushed toward him to investigate the disturbance.

Li Qing delivered the Five Elements Binding Spirit Rope he had refined to Elder Xu, demonstrated its power, and received the commission completion token. Elder Xu invited him to drink Drunken Moon, revealing his skill as a spirit brewer.

• Li Qing refined the Five Elements Binding Spirit Rope, gaining fifty years of lifespan, and drew the attention of Artifact Refining Elders.
• Li Qing visited Elder Xu and tested the rope by binding his brass bell and restraining him, disrupting his Spiritual Power.
• Elder Xu praised the rope, said it would help him capture the Ice Spirit Toad, and gave Li Qing the commission completion token.
• Elder Xu invited Li Qing into his cave dwelling and served him Drunken Moon, a spirit wine he had created himself.
• Li Qing learned that Elder Xu was an experienced Spirit Brewer whose Drunken Moon was popular with Lingyun Sect's Supreme Elders.

Li Qing learned from Elder Xu that the Cold Wind Secret Realm held a newly born Nether Cold Fire, a Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire that might help his cultivation. After completing his artifact-refining commission, he headed to research the fire and the secret realm in preparation for a possible future expedition.

• Li Qing drank Drunken Moon Wine with Elder Xu, and the wine slightly increased his spiritual power as they grew closer.
• Li Qing asked Elder Xu about Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire, and Elder Xu revealed that he had seen Nether Cold Fire in the Cold Wind Secret Realm nearly eighty years earlier.
• Elder Xu described the secret realm's dangerous conditions and its valuable spirit herbs, and asked Li Qing to refine him a Top-grade Magic Tool someday in return for the information.
• Elder Xu told Li Qing that he had also witnessed a Core Formation True Person wield Great Sun Golden Flame during an exchange with Sky Swallowing Ancestor.
• Li Qing collected the Contribution Points for his commission and left the Artifact Refining Hall, eager to research Nether Cold Fire and the Cold Wind Secret Realm.

Li Qing learned about the Cold Wind Secret Realm and resolved to prepare over the next century to obtain its Nether Cold Fire while pursuing other ways to strengthen himself. He then spent more than two months refining artifacts to accumulate Contribution Points, completing another Flying Sword commission for Cheng Jinxiao.

• Li Qing studied the Cold Wind Secret Realm and learned that it opened every two hundred years, then began planning to enter and obtain the Nether Cold Fire.
• Li Qing read about Heaven and Earth Spirit Fires and decided not to rely solely on the secret realm, while prioritizing the accumulation of Contribution Points for the coming pill restock.
• Li Qing accepted numerous artifact-refining commissions from Qi Refining stage disciples at the Artifact Refining Hall over two months.
• Li Qing took Cheng Jinxiao's fourth Flying Sword commission and found that his Fire Essence Crocodiles were exhausted from breathing Demonic Fire.
• Li Qing used another Formation Eye to refine Cheng Jinxiao's Flying Sword, which emerged from the Black Furnace in less than three days.

Li Qing visited the Merit Hall to exchange Contribution Points for pills, but found that the Purple Sun Pill quota had been reduced after Lingyun Sect sold spirit herbs to Tianhe Sect. He teamed up with Chu Lingyi to obtain Shadow Spider silk for his Sky Net Banner and left with pills and the silk, while Chu Lingyi continued developing a Shadow Escape Talisman.

• Li Qing joined the External Affairs Elders at the Merit Hall, where they learned that the Purple Sun Pill quota had fallen by thirty percent because Lingyun Sect had sold spirit herbs to Tianhe Sect.
• Li Qing spotted Shadow Spider's Silk Sac among the Merit Hall goods and recognized its silk as a key material for refining the Sky Net Banner.
• Li Qing and Chu Lingyi agreed to split the silk while Chu Lingyi kept the sac, then exchanged their Contribution Points for the materials and Li Qing obtained bottles of Purple Sun Pills and Clear Profound Pills.
• Chu Lingyi explained that she wanted the silk sac for her research on a Shadow Escape Talisman, and Li Qing offered to buy some if she succeeded.
• Chu Lingyi returned to the Talisman Hall to continue her research, while Li Qing flew back to his cave abode to use his pills.

After five years in Lingyun Sect, Li Qing had strengthened his cultivation and volunteered to oversee the upcoming Ascension Ceremony. Sect Master Xu Yun was deeply moved by Li Qing’s sincere letter and accepted his offer, planning to choose a second elder by lot.

• Li Qing spent all his Contribution Points on pills and spiritual materials, then refined two bottles of pills over four months.
• Five years after joining Lingyun Sect, Li Qing remained at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage but had improved his spiritual power and reached the second rank in Body Arts.
• Sect Master Xu Yun sent elders a request to oversee the next Ascension Ceremony and escort the new disciples back to the sect.
• Li Qing volunteered, hoping that gaining experience leading teams might help him qualify to lead disciples into the Cold Wind Secret Realm in the future.
• After most elders declined, Sect Master Xu Yun read Li Qing’s letter, treasured it, and agreed to send him to the ceremony with a second elder chosen by lot.

Li Qing and Shen Ningbing arrived at Lingyun Marketplace to oversee the coming Ascension Ceremony, where Li Qing planned to find treasures to help him subdue the Nether Cold Fire. He entered the Myriad Treasures Tower and received an invitation to its second floor.

• Li Qing traveled with Shen Ningbing to Lingyun Marketplace and noted her Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivation.
• A Lingyun Sect disciple showed the elders the Ascension Ceremony roster, and Li Qing asked to be notified of applicants with Heavenly or Special Spiritual Roots.
• Li Qing settled into his cultivation cave and decided to search the marketplace for soul-protecting and yang treasures to prepare for subduing the Nether Cold Fire.
• Li Qing displayed his status as a Lingyun Sect elder while browsing the marketplace and spotted the Myriad Treasures Tower.
• A woman in a pink qipao greeted Li Qing at the Myriad Treasures Tower and invited him to the second floor.

Li Qing visited the Myriad Treasures Tower to trade for items that could protect his divine soul and a treasure of utmost Yang. He exchanged a fifteen-hundred-year Sky Star Grass and a Foundation Establishment Pill for Soul Protection Pills and a Golden Fire Crow tail feather, then left the tower.

• Li Qing requested divine-soul-protecting items and treasures of utmost hardness and utmost Yang at the Myriad Treasures Tower.
• A female cultivator presented Soul Protection Pills and a Golden Fire Crow tail feather, explaining their properties and the feather's high value.
• Li Qing offered a Foundation Establishment Pill for the feather, but the female cultivator said it was not enough.
• Li Qing added a fifteen-hundred-year Sky Star Grass, and the tower's appraiser confirmed its age and accepted the exchange.
• Li Qing took the Soul Protection Pills and Golden Fire Crow tail feather, then departed as the appraiser praised Chan'er for the transaction.

Li Qing presided over Lingyun Sect’s Ascension Ceremony and watched Lu Fan defeat Tang Zhan with a powerful body-refining secret art. When Tang Family Patriarch Tang Lushan attacked Lu Fan, Li Qing intervened, leaving the confrontation poised to begin.

• Li Qing admired the Golden Fire Crow tail feather, then cultivated until the day of the Ascension Ceremony arrived.
• Li Qing addressed the gathered cultivators, activated the arena’s protective formation, and reviewed the roster with Shen Ningbing.
• Lu Fan faced Tang Zhan, a dual-spirit-root descendant of the Tang Family, and Li Qing recognized Lu Fan as a formidable Body Cultivator.
• Lu Fan unleashed a secret art, shattered Tang Zhan’s defensive Magic Tool, and knocked him off the arena.
• Tang Lushan charged onto the arena to attack Lu Fan, and Li Qing blocked him with Mountain Spear and challenged his disrespect toward Lingyun Sect.

Tang Lushan tried to attack Lu Fan during the Ascension Ceremony, but Li Qing and Shen Ningbing stopped him and the matches continued under strict warning. After the ten strongest cultivators were selected and the ceremony ended, Li Qing led the forty-seven successful recruits toward Lingyun Sect, where a goshawk’s cry greeted them as they left the ice lake.

• Tang Lushan attacked Lu Fan, but Li Qing blocked him and Shen Ningbing prepared to fight, forcing Tang Lushan to retreat with Tang Zhan.
• Li Qing warned everyone to follow Lingyun Sect’s rules, and the Ascension Ceremony continued over several days as contestants advanced.
• A gloomy young man with a goshawk and an elderly companion discussed their effort to keep Lingyun Sect neutral and prevent it from aiding Tianhe Sect.
• The fifty finalists fought for ten Foundation Establishment Pills, and Li Qing watched Lu Fan display his unusual Body Arts inheritance.
• After no one challenged the ten victors, Li Qing declared the Ascension Ceremony over, with forty-seven cultivators successfully joining Lingyun Sect.
• Li Qing and Shen Ningbing led the new recruits out of Lingyun Market across the frozen lake, where a goshawk cried as they emerged.

Li Qing and Shen Ningbing encountered Ling Ying, a former Flying Eagle Bandit now serving the Shangqing Sect, and Liu Hongyuan near Lingyun Sect’s marketplace. Shen Ningbing tested Ling Ying in battle, and the chapter ended as both sides summoned powerful companions for a combined strike.

• Li Qing recognized the scarlet-eyed Sky-Rending Eagle as a Second-tier Demonic Beast and ordered the cultivators to return to the marketplace.
• Ling Ying and Liu Hongyuan emerged from the mist and said they had come from the Shangqing Sect to visit Lingyun Sect.
• Ling Ying challenged Shen Ningbing, and Li Qing warned her about Ling Ying’s Wind Spiritual Root and his coordination with the Sky-Rending Eagle.
• Shen Ningbing and Ling Ying exchanged attacks with ice and wind while Li Qing and Liu Hongyuan watched each other warily.
• Ling Ying called the Sky-Rending Eagle to join his final strike, and Shen Ningbing summoned an ice-blue butterfly that Liu Hongyuan identified as a Frost Jade Ice Butterfly.

Li Qing and Shen Ningbing battled Ling Ying and his Sky-Rending Eagle, whose strength matched the Frost Jade Ice Butterfly despite the icy terrain. After the two sides parted, Li Qing returned to Lingyun Market with Shen Ningbing, while Ling Ying considered drawing the Lingyun Sect into trouble at Forbidden Speech Snow Mountain; Li Qing then tested a Beast Transformation Talisman with the eagle’s blood.

• Shen Ningbing summoned the Frost Jade Ice Butterfly and fought Ling Ying’s Sky-Rending Eagle, and their attacks collided in a blizzard that left both sides slightly injured.
• Li Qing declined to accompany Ling Ying and Liu Hongyuan to the Lingyun Sect, then helped Shen Ningbing when she weakened from the strain of using the butterfly’s power.
• Shen Ningbing revealed that the Frost Jade Ice Butterfly had tried to break free of their Spirit Contract, and she and Li Qing returned to Lingyun Market to recover.
• Ling Ying told Liu Hongyuan that his Sky-Rending Eagle had mutated after consuming a strange crystal, and he considered sending the Lingyun Sect to deal with trouble near Forbidden Speech Snow Mountain.
• Li Qing took the blood from the Sky-Rending Eagle’s feathers and imprinted it onto a Beast Transformation Talisman.

Li Qing visited Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion to learn about Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire and discovered that Daoist Lingmiao had once wielded Nether Cold Fire. Intelligence linked Lingmiao to the Forbidden Speech Snowfield, leaving Li Qing wondering whether that fire was connected to the Nether Cold Fire in the Cold Wind Secret Realm.

• Li Qing completed the Sky-Rending Eagle imprint on the Beast Transformation Talisman, then left his cave to gather news while Shen Ningbing recovered.
• At Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion, Li Qing bought a collection of intelligence about Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire, but most of it was too old or involved cultivators beyond his reach.
• A blue-clad attendant told Li Qing that someone had reported traces of Daoist Lingmiao in Mu Kingdom and showed him intelligence that Lingmiao had wielded Nether Cold Fire.
• Li Qing paid for details linking Lingmiao to a token found near the Forbidden Speech Snowfield and learned that Lingmiao may have fled toward Forbidden Speech Snow Mountain.
• Li Qing considered whether Lingmiao's Nether Cold Fire had later fallen dormant and reignited in the Cold Wind Secret Realm eighty years ago.

Li Qing learned that tensions between Tianhe Sect and Shangqing Sect were rising as their old treaty neared its end, then returned to Lingyun Sect with Shen Ningbing and forty-seven new disciples. He waited to see whether Lu Fan would establish his foundation, and after Lu Fan failed, Li Qing planned to offer him a Foundation Establishment Pill in exchange for his body-tempering inheritance.

• A Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion attendant told Li Qing that Shangqing Sect was provoking Tianhe Sect as the treaty obligations between them were about to expire.
• Li Qing and Shen Ningbing escorted forty-seven new disciples safely to Lingyun Sect, where Li Qing welcomed them through the mountain gate.
• Li Qing decided to wait for Lu Fan to fail at Foundation Establishment before offering him a pill for his body-tempering inheritance.
• Lu Fan swallowed his Foundation Establishment Pill while only at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, and eight immortal seedlings attempted Foundation Establishment.
• Ning Yuan succeeded, but Ye Sun, Zhang Rishan, Lu Fan, and the other five candidates failed, leaving only one success among the eight.
• Li Qing felt relieved that Lu Fan had failed and decided to wait a few more days before offering him help.

After failing Foundation Establishment, Lu Fan took the only available assignment and was placed in Ice Prison’s deepest cell, where a mad former elder’s cries nearly drove him to madness. He resolved to attempt Foundation Establishment without a pill, just as a visitor arrived offering him one.

• Lu Fan chose to guard Ice Prison after finding that the desirable sect assignments had already been taken.
• Lu Fan learned that Zheng Donghe had arranged for him to guard the deepest part of Ice Prison as revenge for refusing to lend him a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Lu Fan spent a day listening to a powerful mad former elder’s soul-affecting cries and demanded to change assignments.
• Senior Brother Lin told Lu Fan he had to keep the assignment for at least three months unless he achieved Foundation Establishment and became an elder.
• Lu Fan decided to attempt Foundation Establishment without a pill, but an unidentified visitor offered him a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Li Qing gave Lu Fan a Foundation Establishment Pill in exchange for Lu Fan’s body-tempering technique, then revealed who had been tormenting him. Lu Fan prepared to try Foundation Establishment again, while Li Qing left Zheng Donghe to face Lu Fan’s anger.

• Li Qing found Lu Fan after his desperate attempt at Foundation Establishment and urged him not to give up or let his enemies drive him to ruin.
• Li Qing offered Lu Fan a Foundation Establishment Pill in exchange for the True Body of the Brahma King technique, and Lu Fan handed over the incomplete manual.
• Li Qing accepted the technique, gave Lu Fan the pill, and warned him that Zheng Donghe had instigated the trouble.
• Lu Fan restrained his anger toward Zheng Donghe and began preparing for a second Foundation Establishment attempt.
• Li Qing left, reflecting that revealing Zheng Donghe’s role was a small act of revenge that kept him personally uninvolved.

Li Qing began cultivating the True Body of the Brahma King and learned that its rapid gains came at a severe cost in qi and blood, then visited the Artifact Refining Hall to hear about new materials and the sect’s unchanged assignments. Meanwhile, Sect Master Xu Yun rejected the Shangqing Sect’s proposed alliance, and Ling Ying resolved to find a way to occupy the Lingyun Sect as the Shangqing Sect prepared to deal with the Tianhe Sect.

• Li Qing tried cultivating the True Body of the Brahma King, stopped when it consumed too much qi and blood, and felt his strength and physique improve.
• Li Qing planned to advance his qi and blood through the Nine Revolutions and use body tempering to build combat power while his qi cultivation progressed slowly.
• At the Artifact Refining Hall, Elder Wen told Li Qing that a shipment would include the spinal bones of a Second-tier Demonic Beast, and that the usual artifact-refining assignments would remain unchanged.
• Sect Master Xu Yun rejected Ling Ying and Liu Hongyuan’s proposal for an alliance, insisting that the Lingyun Sect follow its ancestral teachings and stay out of other sects’ disputes.
• After leaving the Lingyun Sect, Ling Ying told Liu Hongyuan to follow him deeper into the snowfields so they could find something to occupy the Lingyun Sect.