Chapter Summaries

Song Qingming stayed at Tianxuan Sect, reassured Chen Jianghai about Tie Feng Island, and guided Luo Li and Guo Yuting in cultivation. After Guo Yuting revealed a hidden cave abode and asked for his help, Song Qingming agreed to inspect it and try to break its Restrictions.

• Song Qingming gave Chen Jianghai a transmission Spirit Talisman and told Tianxuan Sect to alert him if Tie Feng Island caused trouble.
• Song Qingming listened to opera with Luo Li and Guo Yuting, explaining how worldly experiences could cultivate their state of mind.
• Song Qingming answered Luo Li and Guo Yuting's cultivation questions by the shore, resolving many of their doubts.
• Guo Yuting revealed that she had found a difficult-to-enter cave abode and showed Song Qingming a damaged Grade 3 Low-grade Magic Treasure from it.
• Song Qingming agreed to accompany Guo Yuting to assess the cave abode, while warning that he might not be able to break its Restrictions.

Song Qingming helped Chen Yuting and Luo Li explore a hidden Golden Core Cultivator’s cave abode beneath Black Cloud Island. After breaking its formation and finding a trove of stored goods, they discovered chests full of cultivator skeletons, leaving the cave’s purpose and owner unexplained.

• Song Qingming agreed to help Chen Yuting explore the cave abode, and Luo Li joined them after Chen Yuting promised her a share.
• Song Qingming, Chen Yuting, and Luo Li traveled to Black Cloud Island and entered the concealed cave beneath its volcanic crater.
• Song Qingming found a damaged bronze token associated with Refined Corpses, then broke the Grade 3 Mid-grade formation sealing the stone door.
• The three entered the cave abode and began collecting its many spiritual items, while Song Qingming searched for clues to the missing owner.
• Luo Li opened a wooden chest and found a cultivator skeleton, and Song Qingming discovered that every chest held corpses, suggesting the owner had practiced the way of Corpse Puppets.

Song Qingming and his companions discovered that the cave abode concealed refined corpses and fought off their controller, a powerful Grey-robed Elder who was himself a refined corpse. After releasing the elder’s Primordial Spirit into reincarnation and defeating the remaining corpses, Song Qingming went to investigate a hidden mechanism behind the wooden crates.

• Song Qingming suspected the cave’s owner had been secretly cultivating the forbidden Corpse Refining Art after finding numerous cultivator corpses.
• Four Foundation Establishment refined corpses sprang from their crates and attacked Chen Yuting and Luo Li, who defeated three before the last exploded; Song Qingming shielded them from the blast.
• A Ninth Level of Golden Core Grey-robed Elder ambushed Song Qingming, then tried to flee before Jin Feng and Song Qingming trapped him with their magic treasures.
• The Grey-robed Elder summoned more than twenty refined corpses, but Jin Feng, Chen Yuting, and Luo Li held them back while Song Qingming used Profound Yang Blazing Flames to subdue the elder and release his Primordial Spirit into reincarnation.
• Song Qingming joined the others to defeat the remaining refined corpses, then headed alone toward the wall behind the crates to investigate the suspected hidden mechanism.

Song Qingming and his companions explored the cave abode, discovered its owner’s Storage Artifact, and identified the owner as the long-missing Heavenly Corpse Daoist, who had become a Refined Corpse after failing to transform himself into a Corpse King. Song Qingming obtained the Heavenly Corpse Puppet Array from the Daoist’s manuals, and the three agreed on how to divide the recovered treasures.

• Song Qingming led Luo Li and Chen Yuting through a hidden passage into a cavern with a Spirit Spring Eye, where they found manuals and a secret chamber containing unfinished Refined Corpses and a Storage Artifact.
• Song Qingming broke the Storage Artifact’s restriction and revealed more than twenty thousand Spirit Stones, magical treasures, talismans, a flying boat, manuals, and other goods.
• Chen Yuting recognized the Heavenly Corpse Art and suspected the cave’s owner was the long-missing Heavenly Corpse Daoist; Song Qingming confirmed that the Grey-robed Elder he had fought was the same person.
• Song Qingming learned that the Daoist had failed to refine himself into a Corpse King and had become a Refined Corpse with incomplete intelligence, then discovered the Heavenly Corpse Puppet Array among his techniques.
• Song Qingming took the Corpse Refining manuals and proposed dividing the remaining treasures, with forty percent each for himself and Chen Yuting and twenty percent for Luo Li; they accepted.

Song Qingming divided the spoils from Heavenly Corpse Daoist’s cave with Chen Yuting and Luo Li, then renovated the cave into a hidden retreat and returned to Funiu Mountain. There he reunited with Song Qingyu, who had returned from years of travel, and welcomed Li Xuanyi, who agreed to stay a few days before returning to her sect.

• Song Qingming, Chen Yuting, and Luo Li divided the cave’s treasures, and Chen Yuting exchanged her valuable high-grade items with Song Qingming for more easily sold goods.
• Song Qingming designated the cave as a private retreat, promised Chen Yuting and Luo Li they could use it for a future breakthrough, and gave them formation canons and the Soul-Devouring Art.
• Song Qingming renovated Heavenly Corpse Daoist’s cave, established a Grade 3 Spirit Gathering Array and concealment measures, then returned to Qinghe County after nearly two months away.
• Song Qingming reunited with Song Qingyu outside Funiu Mountain and learned that her cultivation had advanced to the Golden Core Fifth Layer during her years away.
• Song Qingming greeted Li Xuanyi at the Immortal Gathering Pavilion and offered to escort her back to her sect; she agreed to stay a few days and planned to visit Taiyue Lake with Song Qingyu.

Song Qingming reunited with Song Qingyu, Li Xuanyi, and Huang Siyuan, then traveled with Li Xuanyi toward the Taiyi Sect. On Baili Island, Li Xuanyi’s brother Li Xuanfeng recognized her and hinted at Song Qingming’s connection to her, before asking her to return to the Li family.

• Song Qingyu and Li Xuanyi recounted their ten years of travels, including dangers in the Outer Sea, and Song Qingming told them about exploring a Golden Core cave mansion with Luo Li.
• Song Qingyu privately asked Li Xuanyi whether they should tell Song Qingming about a dangerous place they planned to visit, but Li Xuanyi insisted they wait until their cultivation improved.
• Song Qingyu and Li Xuanyi returned to Funiu Mountain, and months later Song Qingming escorted Li Xuanyi across the Illusion Sea Desert toward the Taiyi Sect.
• On Baili Island, Li Xuanyi reunited with her brother Li Xuanfeng, a Ninth Level Golden Core cultivator, while Song Qingming concealed his identity and introduced himself as a Rogue Cultivator.
• Li Xuanfeng hinted that Song Qingming and Li Xuanyi shared a bond between fellow disciples, then told Li Xuanyi that their family’s Old Ancestor urgently wanted her to return home.

Song Qingming parted from Li Xuanyi, returned to Jade Profound Island, and learned that Daoist Lingxu was away. He spent more than a year completing worldly cultivation there before leaving, having discovered immortal affinity in Wang Fengqi’s young son.

• Li Xuanyi asked Song Qingming for the Song clan elder Token so she could visit Funiu Mountain, and Song Qingming gave it to her along with a Grade 3 Mid-grade Dongyuan Pill.
• Li Xuanyi returned to her clan with Li Xuanfeng, while Song Qingming traveled by Treasure Ship to Jade Profound Island and reunited with Wang Fengqi in Yanhu Village.
• Song Qingming met Third Senior Brother Wang Bicheng and learned that Daoist Lingxu and Zheng Xingyun had gone traveling; he decided to stay and cultivate for a time.
• Song Qingming visited Wang Qin’s family, discovered that Wang Fengqi’s young son possessed immortal affinity, and gave the child a name.
• Song Qingming spent more than a year completing worldly cultivation on Jade Profound Island, met several fellow Golden Core cultivators, and left without seeing Daoist Lingxu or Li Xuanyi.

Song Qingming’s family faced a Mid Golden Core Stage Demon King’s attack on Jinshan Market while Huang Siyuan advanced into a new cultivation realm. After Song Qingyu drove the demon away, Song Qingming proposed expanding northward while Golden Feather Mountain remained weakened.

• Song Qingming returned from the Eastern Phoenix Kingdom with pills and spiritual items, and he, Song Qingyu, and Huang Siyuan entered cultivation seclusion; over ten years, Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan reached bottlenecks.
• An azure-robed cultivator failed his first attempt at Core Formation and received pills and instructions from a Green Robe Figure who had rescued him.
• A Mid Golden Core Stage White Rhinoceros Demon King attacked Jinshan Market, and Song Qingyu arrived, wounded it, and chased it north before it escaped.
• Song Qingyu ordered Cao Linglong to compensate the dead and injured and strengthen the marketplace’s defenses against future beast attacks.
• Song Qingyu discovered that Huang Siyuan had triggered the Five-Colored Divine Glow by breaking through, then told Song Qingming about the Demon King’s attack.
• Song Qingming proposed that he, Song Qingyu, and Huang Siyuan hunt the Demon King and establish northern defenses, arguing that the sect’s defeat of Golden Feather Mountain made expansion timely.

Song Qingming focused on strengthening his resources and talisman-making after repeated failures to break through the late Golden Core bottleneck. Huang Siyuan emerged from seclusion having successfully advanced her cultivation, and the chapter ended with Song Qingming, Huang Siyuan, and Song Qingyu planning the family’s northward expansion.

• Song Qingming discussed Bai Yuxian’s long seclusion with Song Qingyu and urged the family to prepare for changes in the Carefree Sect.
• Song Qingming gave pills to his Corpse Puppets, Golden Wind and Silver Armor, and reflected on creating the Myriad Spirit Puppet Array.
• Song Qingming checked on his Spirit Beasts and Spirit Insects, then set aside cultivation to study talisman making after failing to break through the Golden Core Seventh Layer bottleneck.
• Song Qingming successfully created a Grade 3 High-grade Spirit Talisman and received word that Huang Siyuan had emerged from seclusion.
• Huang Siyuan told Song Qingming and Song Qingyu that she had successfully advanced her cultivation and credited her mortal-world experiences with helping her breakthrough.
• Song Qingming, Huang Siyuan, and Song Qingyu celebrated and drafted a rough plan for the family’s northward expansion.

Song Qingming convened the Song Family elders to discuss expanding northward and ordered a campaign to seize White Lion Ridge. After the meeting, Song Yuanqian and Song Xuanqing regretted being left behind, and Song Yuanfang urged them to stay patient and support the family.

• The Song Family had grown to sixteen Foundation Establishment elders and more than six hundred cultivators, while Song Yuanli remained missing in Wu State.
• Song Qingming proposed expanding northward and taking White Lion Ridge as a defensive front against northern demonic beasts, and the elders unanimously supported him.
• Song Qingming ordered most of the elders to join the campaign in two months, while Song Yuanfang, Song Yuanqian, Huang Leqing, Song Xuanfeng, and Song Xuanqing were assigned to guard the family.
• Song Yuanqian and Song Xuanqing asked Song Yuanfang to help them join the campaign, but he explained that the family needed elders to remain behind.
• Song Yuanfang rebuked Song Yuanqian for lamenting her lost chance at Golden Core formation, then reassured her that the family would offer future opportunities.

The Song Family gathered allies and recruited Rogue Cultivators for its northward expansion, then launched a massive assault on White Lion Ridge to eliminate the Demonic Beasts and the White Rhinoceros Demon King. Song Qingyu rescued Song Changze and the others when their formation failed, and prepared to fight the Demon King herself.

• The Song Family mobilized its forces and offered Rogue Cultivators rewards, including the chance to claim a spirit vein and establish a cultivation family.
• Li Chengyue, Gao Changjin, and Huang Lepeng gathered with the other Foundation Establishment Families at Chiyan Market before Song Changze led the cultivators north aboard a Flying Boat.
• The Song Family’s force of nearly fifteen hundred cultivators surrounded White Lion Ridge and drove its Demonic Beasts toward the summit.
• The White Rhinoceros Demon King appeared and overwhelmed Song Changze and six Foundation Establishment Cultivators, breaking their Seven Star Azure Dragon Formation and gravely injuring them.
• Song Qingyu arrived in time to drive back the White Rhinoceros Demon King, sent Song Changze and the others away, and summoned her Profound Nether Golden Light Sword to face it.

Song Qingyu, Song Qingming, and Huang Siyuan killed the White Rhinoceros Demon King and secured White Lion Ridge for the Song Family. After the family installed a protective array and began rebuilding the mountain, Song Qingming learned that allied forces had captured most nearby Spirit Veins, while a few battles remained.

• Song Qingyu trapped the White Rhinoceros Demon King with her sword clones, while Song Qingming restrained its Natal Core and Huang Siyuan joined the fight; Song Qingyu eventually killed it.
• Two Demon Kings arrived as reinforcements but fled when they saw Song Qingming, Song Qingyu, and Huang Siyuan, while the Human Race Cultivators finished clearing White Lion Ridge.
• The Song Family searched the mountain for spoils, discovered a thousand-year-old Level Three Spiritual Fruit tree, and let the allied cultivators search for lesser items after securing the valuable finds.
• Song Qingming spent a month setting up a Mountain Protection Array at White Lion Ridge and tested its strength with Golden Wind’s full-power attack.
• Song Changze reported that allied forces had captured most nearby Spirit Veins, with two difficult western sites still held by Demonic Beasts.

After the Song Family captured White Lion Ridge, Song Qingming held off Golden Feather Mountain’s response and returned to Funiu Mountain to oversee rewards and the distribution of newly occupied Spirit Veins. He approved Song Yuanfang’s plans, granted Bai Yunhua a Spirit Vein without charge, and was asked whether the family should continue supporting Song Xuande’s Foundation Establishment attempt.

• Song Qingming ordered Song Changze to bring mortals and surveyors to White Lion Ridge, then rebuked him for relaying Li Chengyue’s request to secure Red Moon Ridge for the Li Family.
• The Giant Elephant Demon King led the Egret and Black Armor Demon Kings to attack White Lion Ridge, but Song Qingming and Song Qingyu defeated them; Demon Emperor Molong refused to send reinforcements.
• Golden Feather Mountain stayed out of the conflict, and Song Qingming and Song Qingyu guarded White Lion Ridge while the Song Family cleared the surrounding Spirit Mountains.
• Song Qingming returned to Funiu Mountain and approved Song Yuanfang’s merit and Spirit Vein allocation plans, including the Li Family’s purchase of Red Moon Ridge for nearly thirty thousand Spirit Stones.
• Song Qingming granted Bai Yunhua the Rising Sun Peak Spirit Vein without charge and warned that no one could privately mine discovered mineral veins.
• Song Yuanfang asked Song Qingming whether the family should continue supporting Song Xuande’s attempt to establish Foundation.

Song Qingming approved another Foundation Establishment attempt for the family’s Spirit Seeker, Song Xuande, rewarded the clansmen who guarded the rear, and delivered gathered medicines to Huang Siyuan. While returning a Flying Boat to Mount Guyang, he was attacked by a white bird that he recognized as a Level Four Nascent Soul Puppet Beast, whose controller claimed to have come specifically to challenge him.

• Song Qingming set aside a Foundation Establishment Pill for Song Xuande and promised to support him even if he failed again.
• Song Qingming gave Song Yuanfang a Grade 2 High-grade spirit fruit and awarded Merit Points to cultivators who had stayed behind to guard the family.
• Song Qingming delivered high-tier spiritual medicines to Huang Siyuan, then set out for Mount Guyang with ore from Yinfeng Ridge aboard the Flying Boat.
• A black cloud surrounded the Flying Boat, and a white bird attacked it with lightning as Song Qingming went to investigate.
• Song Qingming used the Thunder Gathering Pearl to withstand the bird’s lightning and discovered it was likely a Level Four Nascent Soul Puppet Beast.
• The puppet bird addressed Song Qingming by name and said it had come specifically to challenge him, leaving him puzzled about who controlled it.

Song Qingming fought a mysterious Nascent Soul-level Puppet Beast before recognizing its master as Feng He, who had been testing his strength. Feng He gave him cultivation insights and offered him a Nascent Soul Opportunity, leaving Song Qingming to decide whether to accept.

• Song Qingming tried to reason with the white great bird, secretly sent a distress talisman, and defended himself against its lightning attacks.
• The bird’s Thunder Lance pierced the Thunder Gathering Pearl’s defenses and pursued Song Qingming through the black clouds, but he used Crimson Blood Escape to close in on the bird and force it to evade.
• Song Qingming recognized Feng He from his fighting style and scroll-shaped magic treasure, and Feng He revealed himself after stopping his attack.
• Feng He gave Song Qingming a bamboo scroll of Golden Core cultivation insights and returned the repaired Heavenly Dipper Five Elements Array to him.
• Feng He revealed that he had personally refined the Nascent Soul-level Puppet Beast and said he had come to offer Song Qingming a Nascent Soul Opportunity.

Song Qingming agreed to help Feng He kill a Golden Core cultivator to draw out Feng He’s Nascent Soul enemy, in exchange for a chance at Nascent Soul resources. As the Song Family developed White Lion Ridge and its marketplace, Bai Yuxian began the crucial transformation of her Golden Core in her attempt to form a Nascent Soul.

• Feng He offered Song Qingming a Nascent Soul opportunity in return for killing a Late Golden Core cultivator whose death would draw out Feng He’s mortal enemy, a Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Song Qingming agreed to help Feng He, received a Golden Talisman to contact him, and returned to the Carefree Sect’s flying boat after concealing their encounter from its passengers.
• Song Qingming returned the flying boat to the sect and went back to Qinghe County, where he helped the Song Family manage its expanded territory around White Lion Ridge.
• The Song Family developed White Lion Marketplace, partnered with the Carefree Sect’s Logistics Hall, and grew the marketplace into a major center for cultivators and merchants.
• Bai Yuxian began Fetal Nascent Soul Transformation after years of preparation, and Spiritual Energy surged into her secluded cave abode.

Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan returned to Mount Guyang after Bai Yuxian’s attempt to form a Nascent Soul triggered a Heaven and Earth Phenomenon. The Carefree Sect’s elders gathered to guard her breakthrough, while Song Qingming took charge of a formation prepared to repel a possible attack.

• Song Qingming gave Huang Siyuan a bamboo slip containing the cultivation insights of an unidentified Nascent Soul senior and warned her to keep it secret.
• After Song Yuanfang delivered a summons from Xu Ziyan, Song Qingming instructed the family to strengthen its defenses and traveled with Huang Siyuan to Mount Guyang.
• Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan found Bai Yuxian’s breakthrough underway and joined the Carefree Sect elders, including Li Xianyun and Zhou Ziyang, to watch the phenomenon.
• Li Mufeng ordered the elders to guard Mount Guyang Peak and forbade them from leaving without permission.
• Li Mufeng gave Song Qingming the Vajra Heavenly Net Formation and tasked him with controlling it if a Nascent Soul Cultivator attacked.

Bai Yuxian completed her Nascent Soul formation and faced the six lightning tribulations while the Carefree Sect guarded Mount Guyang. As the sect fought off Molong and the Crimson Cloud Demon Emperor, Tiebi appeared before Bai Yuxian’s final tribulation, leaving Li Mufeng to confront him.

• After Bai Yuxian’s month-long breakthrough, Li Mufeng ordered the Mountain Protection Array shut down so she could face the Nascent Soul Tribulation.
• Bai Yuxian used the Azure Jade Lotus, a defensive talisman, and the Heaven and Earth Armor Array to withstand the first five lightning tribulations.
• Molong and the Crimson Cloud Demon Emperor led twelve Golden Core Demon Kings in an attack on Mount Guyang, and Li Mufeng, Song Qingming, Li Xianyun, and the others fought to keep them away from Bai Yuxian.
• Bai Yuxian survived the fifth lightning tribulation and prepared to face the final bolt as the Carefree Sect held its ground.
• Molong summoned Tiebi, a powerful Nascent Soul Demon Emperor, and Li Mufeng asked whether Tiebi had come to block Bai Yuxian’s Dao.

Demon Emperor Molong’s attempt to kill Bai Yuxian during her Nascent Soul Tribulation failed when He Wuyou revealed himself and protected her. Bai Yuxian overcame the tribulation and joined the Nascent Soul Realm, while the Carefree Sect began to suspect someone had leaked news of her breakthrough.

• Demon Emperor Tiebi trapped Li Mufeng in a water prison while Demon Emperor Molong advanced toward Bai Yuxian’s tribulation.
• Demon Emperor Molong discovered He Wuyou blocking his attack and fought him, but He Wuyou’s mirror techniques and spirit-division secret technique prevented Molong from reaching Bai Yuxian.
• Demon Emperor Molong ordered the Demon Race forces to retreat, and Li Mufeng stopped the Carefree Sect cultivators from pursuing them.
• Bai Yuxian resisted the final tribulation lightning with her formation and a talisman, collected Earth Spirit Dew, and successfully reached the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Bai Yuxian thanked the cultivators who had protected her and rewarded them with Earth Spirit Dew, while He Wuyou congratulated her.
• Li Mufeng told He Wuyou that someone had likely leaked news of Bai Yuxian’s tribulation to the Golden Feather Mountain Demon Race, and He Wuyou departed for Wu State.

After Bai Yuxian formed her Nascent Soul, Li Mufeng appointed her Grand Elder and scheduled a celebration, then Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan met Feng Yuan, who sought Huang Siyuan’s Myriad Spirit Dew. Feng Yuan traded a Blazing Fire Pearl and a secret refining method for the spirit water, and Song Qingming learned how the method could help their spirit beasts; the couple returned to find Funiu Mountain’s protection array activated.

• Li Mufeng appointed Bai Yuxian Grand Elder, arranged her Nascent Soul Celebration for a year later, and told Song Qingming and Zhang Tieyang to watch the northern demonic beasts.
• Xu Ziyan led Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan to the Spirit Beast Garden, where Feng Yuan asked Huang Siyuan to release Chiyan.
• Feng Yuan exchanged a Blazing Fire Pearl for some Myriad Spirit Dew and gave Huang Siyuan a secret method for refining it in return for two more bottles.
• Huang Siyuan copied the method onto a bamboo slip and shared it with Song Qingming, who learned that the refined spirit water could help Golden Core spirit beasts advance.
• Song Qingming and Huang Siyuan flew back to Funiu Mountain and saw that its Mountain Protection Array had been activated.