Chapter Summaries

Du Tao and Liu visited Qin Fengming, convinced that he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and invited him to become the Golden Talisman Gate’s Guest Elder. Qin Fengming accepted while asking them to keep his position secret, and Du Tao gave him the elder token.

• Du Tao and Liu discussed Qin Fengming’s strength and decided to treat him as a cultivator of their own rank.
• Qin Fengming welcomed Du Tao and Liu into his Cave Abode and explained that he had come to the Golden Talisman Gate to cultivate temporarily.
• Du Tao invited Qin Fengming to serve as the sect’s Guest Elder for thirty thousand spirit stones a year, with help required only when trouble arose.
• Qin Fengming accepted the position but asked Du Tao and Liu to keep it secret.
• Du Tao agreed and handed Qin Fengming the Golden Talisman Gate’s Guest Elder token.

Qin Fengming joined the Golden Talisman Gate as a Guest Elder and learned that Du Wanqing possessed the rare Ice Soul Physique. He spent the following half-year hatching insect eggs, unaware that tensions between the Golden Talisman Gate and Black Wind Gate were escalating.

• Qin Fengming accepted the Golden Talisman Gate’s Guest Elder token and discussed cultivation insights with Du Tao and the cultivator surnamed Liu.
• Qin Fengming asked about Du Wanqing’s powerful ice blades, and Liu explained that she possessed the rare Ice Soul Physique.
• Qin Fengming returned to his cave, avoided using the Xinwu Pill to force a breakthrough, and began hatching insect eggs under the protection of the Four Symbols Pure Spirit Formation.
• Over half a year, Qin Fengming hatched more than six thousand white beetles but worried about how to nurture them and identify his five Five Elements Beast eggs.
• The Golden Talisman Gate and Black Wind Gate quietly prepared for conflict while Qin Fengming remained unaware and focused on his insects.

Su Guiyuan agreed to help Wei Junhao and the Wei Family betray Golden Talisman Gate in exchange for rewards and a chance to join them. As Black Wind Gate attacked, Qin Fengming received an urgent summons from Du Wanqing and left his Cave Abode.

• Su Guiyuan recalled how Wei Junhao's support had helped him advance and become an elite disciple of Golden Talisman Gate.
• Wei Junhao revealed that his family planned to leave Golden Talisman Gate and persuaded Su Guiyuan to help them break its protective Restrictive Spell during Black Wind Gate's attack.
• Su Guiyuan, Wei Junhao, and two recruited disciples flew to the Marketplace attic, where they found the Liu cultivator waiting in the hall.
• The red little beast sent Qin Fengming a mental transmission as he catalyzed insect eggs in his Cave Abode.
• Du Wanqing sent Qin Fengming a voice transmission saying Black Wind Gate was attacking Golden Talisman Gate and that Du Tao had sent her to summon him.
• Qin Fengming secured his spirit herbs and white beetles, checked his Cave Abode, and left.

Qin Fengming arrived at the Golden Talisman Gate as the Black Wind Gate and the Wei Family attacked its protective formation. After learning there were no Core Formation cultivators among the attackers, he joined the sect elders in the formation hall and heard why the assault had begun.

• Du Wanqing told Qin Fengming that the Black Wind Gate and the Wei Family were attacking and led him to the formation control center.
• Qin Fengming asked whether the attackers included Core Formation cultivators and relaxed when Du Wanqing said they did not.
• Qin Fengming entered the hall, where Sect Master Du and three elders were controlling the protective formation.
• The Liu cultivator explained that the Black Wind Gate had joined with the Wei Family to attack because Du Wanqing's coming Foundation Establishment could make the Golden Talisman Gate stronger.
• Qin Fengming concluded that the Black Wind Gate cultivators he had previously met at the Marketplace had likely been targeting Du Wanqing.

As the Black Wind Gate’s assault overwhelmed the Golden Talisman Gate’s protective formation, Du Tao led the sect out to confront the invaders, with Qin Fengming agreeing to help in exchange for a future favor. The two sides faced off, and Du Tao tried to persuade the Wei brothers and the monk Hong to abandon the attack.

• Sect Master Du warned that the attacks had intensified, and Qin Fengming agreed to assist the Golden Talisman Gate if Du Tao granted him a request.
• Du Tao rallied the disciples, ordered the captured Wei Junhao and the other infiltrators brought along, and led the sect toward the mountain gate.
• Du Tao opened a passage through the protective formation, and the Golden Talisman Gate’s cultivators emerged and formed defensive barriers.
• Duan Yanfang demanded that the Golden Talisman Gate withdraw, while Wei Hongming and Wei Hongliang declared that the Wei Family was breaking away from the sect.
• Du Tao appealed to the monk Hong to stand aside, offering him twice the benefits promised by Duan Yanfang.

The Golden Talisman Gate faced an impending attack after Han Leshan was delayed, and Wei Hongming chose the clan’s cause over his captured son. Qin Fengming then offered to face the opposing forces alone, and the chapter ended as the Evil-Faced Monk attacked him.

• Duan Yanfang revealed that Hu's Twin Eagles had intercepted Han Leshan, leaving the Golden Talisman Gate without its expected support.
• Du Tao asked Qin Fengming to take Du Wanqing away, but Qin refused to leave before the battle.
• The Golden Talisman Gate threatened Wei Hongming with his captured son, but Wei chose to proceed with the attack, and the disciples executed Wei Junhao and the other captives.
• Qin Fengming stopped both sides from beginning the battle and offered to defeat the Black Wind Gate's forces alone in exchange for a promise from Du Tao.
• The Evil-Faced Monk attacked Qin Fengming with two top-grade spirit weapons, and Qin raised a five-colored shield.

Qin Fengming killed the Evil-Faced Monk and routed the Black Wind Gate attackers with his powerful spirit beasts. Duan Yanfang escaped using a blood-fueled secret art, but Qin Fengming sent the centipede after him.

• Qin Fengming's Five Elements Defense Talisman repelled the Evil-Faced Monk's two spirit artifacts, and Qin Fengming killed him with a red streak of light.
• Qin Fengming retrieved the spirit artifacts and challenged the Black Wind Gate, prompting Duan Yanfang to order a joint attack.
• Qin Fengming evaded the Black Wind Gate's weapons and summoned a black spider and a purple-black centipede, which attacked the fleeing cultivators.
• Duan Yanfang used a blood-colored secret art to vanish, and Qin Fengming sent the centipede after him while tracking him with his divine sense.

Qin Fengming helped Golden Talisman Gate defeat Black Wind Gate and secretly used the battle to position himself to obtain the sect’s Sun-Shooting Talisman. After returning to his cave abode, he learned that his centipede had brought back spirit stones and the Black Abyss Art from the defeated enemies.

• Du Tao ordered Golden Talisman Gate’s disciples to pursue Black Wind Gate, and the gate’s forces were wiped out while the Wei lineage stood surrounded.
• Duan Yanfang fled, but Qin Fengming’s purple-black centipede caught and killed him.
• Qin Fengming returned to his cave abode while the fighting continued, unconcerned with how Du Tao dealt with the captives.
• Qin Fengming recalled discovering that Golden Talisman Gate guarded the powerful Sun-Shooting Talisman and planned to ask to borrow it after demonstrating his strength.
• Qin Fengming’s centipede returned with storage rings containing tens of thousands of spirit stones, materials, spirit herbs, and the Black Abyss Art.

Qin Fengming discovered the Swift Blood Chasing Wind Technique in the Black Abyss Art and made it his next cultivation priority. After the Golden Talisman Gate defeated the Black Wind Gate, he used his promised reward to borrow the sect’s Sun-Shooting Talisman for a month, and Du Tao brought it to him.

• Qin Fengming found the Swift Blood Chasing Wind Technique in the Black Abyss Art and decided to cultivate it.
• While Qin Fengming stayed at his mountain cave, Du Tao led Golden Talisman Gate cultivators to destroy the Black Wind Gate and confiscate the Wei family’s possessions.
• Du Tao and the four Golden Talisman Gate elders visited Qin Fengming to thank him for helping them defeat the Black Wind Gate.
• Qin Fengming told Du Tao that his spirit beast had killed the Black Wind Gate’s sect master, then requested to borrow the Sun-Shooting Talisman.
• Du Tao agreed to lend Qin Fengming the Sun-Shooting Talisman for a month and returned with its scroll in an ancient wooden box.

Qin Fengming studied the Sun Shooting Talisman and visited Myriad Treasures Pavilion to buy talisman-making materials, where he discovered an ancient scroll ranking strange insects and beasts. After learning that his Silver Sheath Worm ranked ninth and the Five Elements Beast ranked sixteenth, he returned to studying the talisman while still lacking a safe way to form a master-servant connection with the Five Elements Beast.

• Qin Fengming studied the Sun Shooting Talisman for more than twenty days, copied it onto a jade slip, and returned the original to Du Tao.
• Qin Fengming asked Myriad Treasures Pavilion's Shopkeeper Liu to gather talisman-making materials and bought an ancient scroll with unreadable writing.
• Qin Fengming translated the scroll and learned that the Silver Sheath Worm ranked ninth among strange insects and the Five Elements Beast ranked sixteenth among strange beasts.
• Qin Fengming realized that all five Five Elements Beasts had to survive together and that he could not risk experimenting with a master-servant connection.
• Qin Fengming put away the Five Elements Beast eggs and resumed studying the Sun Shooting Talisman.

Qin Fengming learned to refine the Sun-Shooting Talisman after practicing on high-grade talisman paper and tested its power outside his cave. Du Tao and Du Wanqing then asked him to accept Du Wanqing as his disciple, and he agreed on the condition that she remain at the Golden Talisman Gate.

• Qin Fengming struggled to draw the Sun-Shooting Talisman on ordinary paper but succeeded after practicing on high-grade talisman paper.
• Two months later, Qin Fengming used a talisman strike to shatter a huge boulder, though its power remained below that of the Golden Talisman Gate's Sun-Shooting Talisman.
• Du Tao and Du Wanqing arrived and asked Qin Fengming whether he had refined the sect's talisman, but he claimed he had only tested a magic treasure.
• Du Tao told Qin Fengming that Du Wanqing, who possessed the Ice Soul Physique, wished to take him as her master.
• Qin Fengming agreed to accept Du Wanqing as his disciple if she stayed at the Golden Talisman Gate and cultivated diligently.

Qin Fengming agreed to Du Tao’s plan to announce his acceptance of Du Wanqing as a disciple and traveled to Quzhou’s largest Marketplace to buy spirit herbs for her. He learned the herbs were costly and began negotiating with the Blood Fox Alliance to exchange his Fire Python Talismans for them.

• Du Tao proposed holding a ceremony on the fifteenth to announce Du Wanqing’s apprenticeship, and Qin Fengming agreed after understanding the benefit to the Golden Talisman Gate.
• Qin Fengming asked where to buy spirit herbs so he could help Du Wanqing establish her Foundation Establishment, and Du Tao directed him to Quzhou’s largest Marketplace.
• Qin Fengming visited a Blood Fox Alliance shop and learned that one stalk of each herb needed for the Yellow Essence Pill would cost about seventy-three thousand spirit stones.
• Qin Fengming offered to exchange high-grade beginner-level Fire Python Talismans for the herbs, and the shop assistant summoned the local manager, Zhang.
• Qin Fengming told Zhang that he had many Fire Python Talismans and asked how many spirit stones the Blood Fox Alliance would offer.

Qin Fengming traded Fire Python Talismans with Elder Zhang and learned that Zhang possessed a secret map to Phantom Venerable’s Cave Abode in Quzhou. Intrigued by the possibility of finding a spirit-beast nurturing manual, Qin Fengming agreed to join the expedition a year and a half later and began preparing for its dangers.

• Elder Zhang offered Qin Fengming ninety Spirit Stones per Fire Python Talisman, and Qin Fengming traded two thousand talismans for the spirit herbs on his jade slip.
• Elder Zhang told Qin Fengming that he had secretly obtained a map to one of Phantom Venerable’s Cave Abodes in Quzhou.
• Elder Zhang offered each expedition member fifty thousand Spirit Stones and a share of the treasures, while reserving one item for himself.
• Qin Fengming learned that Phantom Venerable had raised an Azure Winged Mantis and might have possessed a secret manual for nurturing spirit beasts.
• Qin Fengming accepted Elder Zhang’s invitation to search for the Cave Abode in a year and a half and planned to refine high-grade offensive talismans beforehand.

Qin Fengming gave Du Wanqing Yellow Essence Pills and urged her to cultivate toward Foundation Establishment before attending her Master-Apprenticeship Ceremony. At the ceremony, Elder Ouyang challenged Qin Fengming to a duel, and Qin stood still as Ouyang’s two spiritual weapons rushed toward him.

• Qin Fengming gave Du Wanqing two bottles of Yellow Essence Pills and told her to cultivate diligently and attempt Foundation Establishment within a year and a half.
• Qin Fengming considered his plans to hatch Silver Sheath Worm eggs, refine magic treasures, and make Fire Python Talismans for Elder Zhang.
• Qin Fengming and Du Wanqing arrived at the ceremony, where Du Tao introduced five nearby cultivators who had come to offer congratulations.
• Elder Ouyang questioned Qin Fengming about defeating Black Wind Gate cultivators and killing the Evil-Faced Monk, then demanded a sparring match.
• Qin Fengming warned Elder Ouyang that he might be injured, but Ouyang attacked with two spiritual weapons as Qin stood without a weapon or shield.

Qin Fengming defeated Elder Ouyang with six top-grade spiritual weapons, then spared him and accepted his surrender. The cultivators returned to the main hall, and Liu led them to the Sky-Watching Platform for the Golden Talisman Gate's Master-Apprenticeship Ceremony.

• Elder Ouyang's spiritual weapons passed through Qin Fengming, who reappeared and attacked with six top-grade spiritual weapons.
• Qin Fengming shattered Elder Ouyang's protective barrier and halted the six blades before they could strike him.
• Elder Ouyang thanked Qin Fengming for sparing him, and Qin Fengming recalled his weapons and accepted his apology.
• The cultivators returned to the main hall, where the Hu brothers nervously kept their past dealings with the Black Wind Gate to themselves.
• Liu announced that the ceremony was about to begin and led everyone to the Sky-Watching Platform.

Qin Fengming formally accepted Du Wanqing as his apprentice and gave her an array of powerful spirit artifacts and talismans to protect her. After she entered secluded cultivation, she reached the peak of the Qi Gathering stage in nine months and returned to his Cave Abode.

• Cultivator Liu opened the Master-Apprenticeship Ceremony, and Du Tao led the attendees in honoring the Golden Talisman Gate’s ancestors.
• Qin Fengming accepted Du Wanqing as his apprentice and gave her four top-grade spirit artifacts and a thousand talismans, including powerful defensive and offensive talismans.
• Qin Fengming left for his Cave Abode, where he focused on cultivation, talisman crafting, and hatching Silver Sheath Worms.
• Du Wanqing visited Qin Fengming the next day to bid farewell, then entered secluded cultivation.
• Nine months later, Du Wanqing reached the peak of the Qi Gathering stage, left seclusion, and went to Qin Fengming’s Cave Abode.

Qin Fengming prepared Du Wanqing for his impending departure by supplying her with a secret cultivation art, powerful talismans, pills, and magical treasures. After she left for seclusion, he continued making arrangements at the Golden Talisman Gate before his journey.

• Qin Fengming learned that Du Wanqing had reached the peak of Qi Gathering after taking only seven Yellow Essence Pills and warned her that she would soon face the Foundation Establishment bottleneck.
• Qin Fengming told Du Wanqing he would leave the Golden Talisman Gate in half a year and gave her the Profound Ice Art, instructing her to keep it secret.
• Qin Fengming gave Du Wanqing five Sun-Shooting Talismans and two bottles of pills, explaining their uses and cautioning her to take them only at the proper time.
• Qin Fengming gave Du Wanqing a red silk ribbon and a small knife, revealing that both were magical treasures intended to protect her in the future.
• Qin Fengming dismissed Du Wanqing and told her not to leave seclusion to see him off; she kowtowed three times and departed in tears, while he continued his preparations.

Five months after leaving the Golden Talisman Gate, Qin Fengming met Elder Zhang and three other Foundation Establishment cultivators to pursue a treasure hidden in a dangerous Cave Abode. After settling how the treasure would be divided and distributing talismans, the group prepared to enter Demon Beast Valley.

• Qin Fengming told Du Tao he had arranged Du Wanqing’s future cultivation, gave him three Sun-Shooting Talismans, and left the Golden Talisman Gate.
• Qin Fengming arrived at the agreed meeting place and found Elder Ouyang, Cultivator Wen, and Cultivator Xu waiting with Elder Zhang.
• Qin Fengming gave Elder Zhang five thousand Fire Python Talismans, and Elder Zhang agreed that Qin Fengming and he could each choose one treasure before the rest were divided.
• Cultivator Wen objected to Qin Fengming receiving a first choice, but Elder Zhang silenced him by pointing out the danger of facing a fifth-level demon beast.
• Elder Zhang distributed one thousand Fire Python Talismans to each cultivator and announced that the group would seek the Cave Abode in Demon Beast Valley.

Qin Fengming and four fellow cultivators traveled deep into Demon Beast Valley, where they were surrounded by dozens of Level 3 demon birds. The five joined forces to fight back, but the birds’ dense mist hindered their spirit artifacts as the battle began.

• Qin Fengming and the four cultivators entered Demon Beast Valley and flew thousands of li into its depths.
• Elder Zhang warned the group that powerful Level 4 and Level 5 demon beasts might appear and urged them to attack together if they encountered one.
• Dozens of fast-moving demon birds approached the five, and the group realized they could not flee without being surrounded separately.
• The five learned that the attackers were Level 3 demon beasts and agreed to combine their strength and use talismans to survive.
• The five formed a pentagon and summoned more than a dozen top-grade spirit artifacts, but the birds’ dense mist slowed the artifacts as the sides collided.

Qin Fengming negotiated payment from Elder Zhang, Elder Ouyang, Wen, and Xu in exchange for a way to escape the demonic birds. After they accepted his terms, he gave them Earth Evasion Talismans, and the group prepared to flee in separate directions.

• Demonic birds used their demon cores to batter the five cultivators’ spirit weapons while other birds attacked with sonic waves that weakened their fire serpents.
• Elder Zhang warned Qin Fengming, Elder Ouyang, Wen, and Xu that they were unlikely to survive if they exhausted their talismans.
• Elder Ouyang urged Qin Fengming to help, and Elder Zhang promised him first choice of two treasures from the ancient cultivator’s Cave Abode if he defeated the birds.
• Qin Fengming offered to help in exchange for choosing one treasure first and receiving thirty thousand spirit stones from each of the four cultivators.
• After the four agreed, Qin Fengming gave each of them an Earth Evasion Talisman, and Elder Zhang proposed that they regroup a hundred li to the southeast after splitting up.