Chapter Summaries

Luo Hong learned that the Heavenly Question Jade Slip had come from a Hongru Academy convoy raided by the Blood Cry Sect, giving him a reason to travel to Dangqi Mountain. He advised his avatar to build Demonic Arts around maximizing the activity of Demon Particles, and the avatar left inspired to pursue this path.

• Luo Hong checked Luzhu's cultivation and found the Gong Family's members worrying over the Fang Family's likely retaliation.
• Luo Hong's avatar revealed that he had killed the Fang Family Head and a Blood Cry Sect Core Formation Elder.
• Luo Hong learned that the Heavenly Question Jade Slip had been taken from a Hongru Academy convoy and decided to go to Dangqi Mountain with Luzhu after her cultivation session.
• Luo Hong's avatar described his uncertainty over which Demonic Arts to pursue and asked Luo Hong for guidance.
• Luo Hong explained that the avatar should focus on maximizing Demon Particles' activity, and the avatar left in a Black Escape Light to continue his research.

Luo Hong took Luzhu through Taiping City to explore its shops and help ease her sadness after leaving home. When a group of young cultivators harassed Luzhu and one attacked her, Luo Hong struck back and forced the group to their knees before an unseen person asked him to show restraint.

• Luo Hong and Luzhu explored Taiping City's cultivation shops, where Luzhu gradually grew more confident and began asking shopkeepers for lists of spirit materials.
• Luzhu accidentally collided with a young woman in a palace gown as she entered a shop, and the woman's companions berated her despite her apology.
• A Brocade-robed Young Master threatened to cripple Luzhu, but Luo Hong sent him crashing into the shop's ironwood counter.
• Luo Hong shouted at the remaining youths and forced them to their knees with an invisible force, crushing two who resisted.
• An unseen speaker addressed Luo Hong as a Fellow Daoist and urged him not to take his anger out on the younger generation.

Luo Hong defended Luzhu after Ye’s descendant tried to have her arm cut off, then forced the Python-robed man to kneel when he challenged him. After learning that Yi Xitian and Xia Tingshan were among the cultivators in the shop, Luo Hong declined their invitation and left with Luzhu for Dangqi Mountain.

• Luo Hong rebuked the gray-robed Elder surnamed Xia for his juniors’ conduct and sent the young men and women flying.
• Elder surnamed Xia sent the Young Lady in Palace Attire away, but the Python-robed man arrived, revived the Brocade-robed Young Master, and confronted Luo Hong.
• Luo Hong defended his actions, and the Python-robed man summoned a Golden Seal to fight him.
• Luo Hong’s Invisible Great Force drove the Python-robed man to his knees, and the man begged for mercy as Xia Tingshan asked Luo Hong to spare his dignity.
• Luo Hong identified the upstairs cultivator as Yi Xitian, withdrew his divine ability, refused Yi Xitian’s invitation, and flew away with Luzhu toward Dangqi Mountain.

After Luo Hong subdued Ye Mou and left Taiping City, Yi Xitian and six other Nascent Soul cultivators debated whether he posed a threat to their plans for the Water Mansion. Five years before it opened, the group dispersed, and Fairy Dong and the young woman surnamed Ye flew to Dangqi Mountain, where an unexpected figure alarmed Fairy Dong.

• Luo Hong left after demonstrating his strength, and Yi Xitian returned to the secret chamber with Xia Tingshan.
• Ye Mou described how Luo Hong had subdued him, while Yi Xitian and the others debated whether Luo Hong had come for the Water Mansion.
• Fairy Dong argued that Luo Hong likely meant no harm because he had brought a Qi Refining Stage disciple, and the seven agreed to continue their plan.
• Yi Xitian announced that the group would gather again in five years, and the seven cultivators departed Taiping City.
• The young woman surnamed Ye caught up with Fairy Dong, and they flew together to Dangqi Mountain to discuss a private matter.
• Near the mountain gate, Fairy Dong and the young woman surnamed Ye encountered someone unexpected, and Fairy Dong showed a trace of panic.

Luo Hong visited Hongru Academy to find a place to heal an unusual injury and asked its First Senior Brother, Mr. Lishan, about cultivators who practiced the Health and Vitality Cultivation Method. Mr. Lishan instead brought up the Feather Ascension Pill, drawing Luo Hong’s keen interest.

• Luo Hong and Luzhu waited outside Hongru Academy, where Luo Hong recognized two Nascent Soul cultivators from the secret chamber; the married woman surnamed Ye fled after seeing him.
• Mr. Lishan descended to meet Luo Hong and respectfully asked why he had come.
• Luo Hong showed Mr. Lishan a jade rabbit, and she became excited because she recognized it as connected to Senior Xiang.
• Luo Hong clarified that he wanted a place to heal and asked whether the academy had a Nascent Soul cultivator who practiced the Health and Vitality Cultivation Method.
• Mr. Lishan explained that such cultivators were rare, then asked Luo Hong whether he had heard of the Feather Ascension Pill.
• Luo Hong described the pill’s reputed ability to increase a cultivator’s Essence and asked whether Mr. Lishan knew where to find it.

Luo Hong learned that Mr. Lishan wanted him to join a dangerous expedition to an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling, where Feather Ascension Pills might be found. He declined for now, secured a residence at Hongru Academy, and asked about a clue to the Phoenix Blood Stone before revealing the severity of his injury to Luzhu.

• Silver Fairy urged Luo Hong to seize the opportunity after Mr. Lishan revealed the cave dwelling had once belonged to a Feather Ascension Pill refiner.
• Mr. Lishan explained that the expedition would include representatives of several Great Jin factions and warned that Nascent Soul cultivators could die there, but Luo Hong refused to risk his life while injured.
• Luo Hong asked Mr. Lishan about the Blood Cry Sect and a robbery of a Hongru Academy caravan roughly Three Sexagenary Cycles earlier, seeking a lead on the Phoenix Blood Stone.
• Mr. Lishan gave Luo Hong an empty mountaintop cave dwelling, and he settled in after placing restrictions around it.
• Luzhu saw the bloody wound between Luo Hong's brows and feared that he was dying.

Luo Hong learned that the Feather Ascension Pills were made from the Five-Colored Peacock’s True Spirit Origin and resolved to claim the remaining essence in the cave estate. With Yi Xitian potentially standing in his way, Luo Hong considered how to strengthen himself and heard that his avatar was preparing a powerful demonic artifact.

• Luo Hong refused to accept Mr. Lishan’s invitation immediately, suspecting that Yi Xitian sought a treasure beyond the Feather Ascension Pill.
• Silver Fairy revealed that the pills’ main ingredient was True Spirit Origin, and Luo Hong recognized it as the remnants of the Five-Colored Peacock’s essence.
• Silver Fairy explained that most of the True Spirit Origin had been shattered or dispersed, but some had been preserved and refined into pills.
• Luo Hong decided to seize the True Spirit Origin for himself and began worrying that his injuries would leave him unprepared to face Yi Xitian.
• Luo Hong’s avatar offered to help, saying that a Natal Demonic Artifact could let it approach the strength of a Deity Transformation demonic cultivator within five years.
• Luo Hong saw the avatar’s costly materials list and concluded that he would have to attend another auction.

Luo Hong sought rare spiritual materials for his incarnation and learned that the clue to the Phoenix Blood Stone led to Qi Fenglei, who was imprisoned by Qingyun Temple. He planned to attend an auction in Jin Capital, while Nie Zhiqiou offered to refine some Silver Gang Sand for him.

• Luo Hong agreed to search for the rare materials his incarnation needed and added Silver Gang Sand to his plans for refining the Divine Edge Shadowless Sword.
• The Woman in Scholar's Robes and Nie Zhiqiou met Luo Hong, who identified Qi Fenglei as the owner of the Heavenly Question Jade Slip.
• Nie Zhiqiou revealed that Qi Fenglei had been imprisoned by Qingyun Temple for a bet battle and had forty years remaining in his sentence.
• Luo Hong asked about upcoming auctions and named Nether River Water, Soul Absorbing Steel, Evil Dragon Blood, and Silver Gang Sand as materials he needed.
• The Woman in Scholar's Robes directed Luo Hong to a large auction and an Underground Auction in Jin Capital, scheduled for half a year later.
• Nie Zhiqiou offered to refine one or two taels of Silver Gang Sand per year from Cloud Iron Ore and said he could provide enough after two years.

Luo Hong secured a supply of Silver Gang Sand by giving Nie Zhiqiou two Lifespan Pills and Essence of Wutu, while the Woman in Scholar's Robes negotiated with the Ye Family's young married woman to recruit him for the water manor. The Ye Family's representative resisted paying with Glazed Heavenly Treasure Liquid, and the discussion ended with the prospect of raising the matter with the family’s decision-maker when Luo Hong visits Jin Capital.

• Luo Hong promised Nie Zhiqiou two Lifespan Pills and Essence of Wutu in exchange for one jin of Silver Gang Sand within three years.
• The Woman in Scholar's Robes offered to have Hongru Academy advance the Spirit Stones Nie Zhiqiou needed to buy Cloud Iron Ore.
• The Woman in Scholar's Robes met the Ye Family's young married woman, who worried that Luo Hong's presence would disrupt their plan to enter the water manor.
• The Woman in Scholar's Robes said Luo Hong could be trusted but might only be persuaded to join them with Glazed Heavenly Treasure Liquid.
• The Ye Family's young married woman refused to spare any Glazed Heavenly Treasure Liquid, so the Woman in Scholar's Robes proposed that the Ye Family provide Nether River Water, Soul Absorbing Steel, and Evil Dragon Blood instead.
• The Woman in Scholar's Robes said Luo Hong would visit Jin Capital in half a year, where the Ye Family's decision-maker could discuss the offer with him.

Luo Hong attended a Nascent Soul-level auction in Jin Capital with Dong Lijun and learned that Old Demon Han had been linked to two notorious thefts. Realizing he lacked the Spirit Stones to buy the rare materials he needed, Luo Hong submitted an item for auction.

• Luo Hong entered the Nascent Soul auction hall with Dong Lijun and took a private room as a Late-stage Great Cultivator.
• Luo Hong overheard cultivators conclude that Old Demon Han was likely both the Ugly Man who forced spirit materials from their owners and the Masked Thief.
• Luo Hong recognized Master Yan Jing among three Buddhist Cultivators but chose not to greet him.
• Luo Hong studied the auction prices and calculated that the three rare demonic-path materials he needed would cost about one and a half million Spirit Stones.
• Luo Hong found he had only three hundred thousand Spirit Stones and handed the maidservant a jade box to add an item to the auction.

Luo Hong secured Nether River Water at the auction and later competed for a rare piece of Soul Absorbing Steel. After Xiao Guan'er challenged his bid, he raised the price again despite Dong Lijun warning that the Shattered Maiden Sect elder might seek a fight.

• Luo Hong bid 320,000 Spirit Stones for Nether River Water, then had its cost deducted from the proceeds of his auction item.
• The Nether River Water drew more Nascent Soul demon cultivators to the auction, including a late-stage cultivator who arrived three days later.
• On the final day, the auctioneer demonstrated that the black metal could absorb a female ghost and announced it was Soul Absorbing Steel.
• Luo Hong entered the bidding at 600,000 Spirit Stones, but Xiao Guan'er raised the price to 650,000 and drove two other bidders away with her seductive voice.
• Dong Lijun identified Xiao Guan'er as the vindictive Great Elder of the Shattered Maiden Sect and warned Luo Hong that she might attack him after the auction.
• Luo Hong dismissed the warning and raised his bid to 660,000 Spirit Stones.

Luo Hong won the Soul Absorbing Steel after repelling Xiao Guan’er’s attempt to charm him, then the auction revealed his complete set of Five Elements Spirit Stones. The bidding surged as powerful factions competed for the stones, while Luo Hong refused Dong Lijun’s request to buy one separately.

• Xiao Guan’er used a Charm Technique on Luo Hong, but he shattered the illusion and ordered Qing Feng to tear away and devour part of her divine sense.
• Boss Ye warned Xiao Guan’er not to act recklessly in Jin Capital, and she backed down as Luo Hong won the Soul Absorbing Steel for six hundred and eighty thousand spirit stones.
• The auctioneer presented Luo Hong’s five high-quality Five Elements Spirit Stones as a single lot, starting at one million spirit stones.
• Dong Lijun asked Luo Hong to sell her an Essence of Metal Element, but he said he had no extras and directed her to bid on the complete set.
• The bidding climbed to three million spirit stones as the Grand Emperor of Great Jin and representatives of the Righteous and Demonic Paths competed for the stones.

Ye Zheng lost the bidding war for the Five Elements Spirit Stone, then the auction’s final lot of Ancient Evil Dragon Blood revealed the Ye Family’s effort to win Luo Hong over. Luo Hong challenged Xiao Guan’er’s ability to pay after she outbid him.

• Ye Zheng stopped bidding after Yueyang Palace raised the Five Elements Spirit Stone’s price to six million Spirit Stones, and Xiao Guan'er mocked him.
• Luo Hong received the proceeds from the Five Elements Spirit Stone auction as the Ancient Evil Dragon Blood was presented as the final lot.
• Luo Hong questioned Dong Lijun, who admitted leaking the news, and realized the Ye Family had arranged the auction to recruit him.
• Luo Hong bid four million Spirit Stones for the Ancient Evil Dragon Blood, but Xiao Guan'er outbid him at four and a half million.
• Xiao Guan'er tried to persuade Luo Hong to yield, but he demanded that she prove she could pay.

After winning the ancient Evil Dragon Blood at auction, Luo Hong met Ye Zheng in the Imperial Garden to discuss joining the trip to the Taiping Water Mansion. Ye Zheng explained the Ye Family’s interest in its Glazed Heavenly Treasure Liquid and began to reveal why Luo Hong was needed, leaving the Cave Spirit’s role unexplained.

• Xiao Guan'er left the auction hall after Luo Hong refused to yield, and the auctioneer sold the ancient Evil Dragon Blood to Luo Hong for four million Spirit Stones.
• Luo Hong told Dong Lijun to lead him to the Imperial Palace, where Ye Zheng was waiting in the Imperial Garden.
• Luo Hong confronted Ye Zheng about the valuable Demonic Dao materials, and Ye Zheng admitted they were meant to recruit him for the Taiping Water Mansion expedition.
• Ye Zheng explained that the Glazed Heavenly Treasure Liquid could improve a Nascent Soul cultivator’s chance of reaching Deity Transformation by ten percent, but that its three existing portions already had owners.
• Ye Zheng promised Luo Hong a portion produced two hundred years later and explained that the Ye Family could send only Ye Zheng’s younger brother’s household to the Water Mansion.
• Luo Hong questioned why Ye Zheng wanted him on the expedition despite the divided treasure, and Ye Zheng began explaining the Cave Spirit of the Taiping Water Mansion.

Luo Hong agreed to join Ye Zheng’s expedition into the Taiping Water Mansion in exchange for first choice of two items from the ancient cultivator’s remains. After learning that the Ye Family planned to enter Kunwu Divine Mountain, Luo Hong detoured toward Qingyun Temple to prepare for Xiao Guan’er’s attack.

• Ye Zheng explained that Spirit-Mixing Powder could put the Water Mansion’s Cave Spirit to sleep, and that Luo Hong’s participation would extend the group’s time inside.
• Luo Hong agreed to give up the Glazed Heavenly Treasure Liquid in exchange for choosing two items from the ancient cultivator’s remains.
• Ye Zheng’s Big-headed Monster relative reported that Luo Hong seemed to be a rogue cultivator with an ancient inheritance, and Ye Zheng ordered him to watch Elder Han.
• Luo Hong and Dong Lijun left Jin Capital, and Luo Hong told her he planned to detour to Qingyun Temple before returning to Dangqi Mountain.

Luo Hong set out for Qingyun Temple, and Dong Lijun chose to accompany him, believing the trip would force Hongru Academy to side with him. At Qingyun Temple, Qi Fenglei endured his imprisonment and vowed to settle accounts in ten years, just as a sudden explosion interrupted a meeting between Leng, Murong, and the Red-faced Old Daoist.

• Dong Lijun decided to join Luo Hong, believing Hongru Academy needed to bind itself to him after the disturbance at Qingyun Temple.
• Qi Fenglei continued cultivating in the Immortal Prison as his power declined, while the Daoist who had defeated him mocked him and promised to return in ten years.
• Qi Fenglei vowed to break out and kill his enemy in ten years.
• Leng declined Murong's invitation to Yueyang Palace because his master had forbidden him to leave before reaching Late Core Formation Stage.
• The Red-faced Old Daoist assured Leng that the Confucian Cultivators would not dare harm him, but a deafening boom suddenly sounded overhead.

Luo Hong and Dong Lijun confronted Qingyun Temple to demand Qi Fenglei’s release, but the Red-faced Old Daoist refused. Luo Hong attacked the temple’s defenses and seized its Gilded Fire Dragon, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Luo Hong tore open Qingyun Temple’s formation with the Rakshasa Ghost Hand and called for its Daoists to meet him.
• The Red-faced Old Daoist confronted Luo Hong and Dong Lijun, and Luo Hong asked Qingyun Temple to release Qi Fenglei, who had served ten years of a sixty-year sentence.
• The Red-faced Old Daoist refused, so Luo Hong attacked him, forcing him back into the formation.
• The Red-faced Old Daoist summoned the Dry Yang Fire Pearl and transformed it into a Gilded Fire Dragon, then ordered Qingyun Temple’s disciples to reinforce the array and Nephew Leng to summon his master.
• Luo Hong’s Rakshasa Ghost Hand battered the Gilded Fire Dragon, seized it, and began crushing its body despite the Red-faced Old Daoist’s attempt to enlarge it.

Luo Hong attacked Qingyun Temple, crushed the Gilded Fire Dragon and captured its essence soul, then sent the Heavenly Demon Banner to break the temple’s formation. Qingyun Temple’s disciples braced for the attack as the banner’s demons began their assault.

• Luo Hong crushed the Gilded Fire Dragon despite the Red-faced Old Daoist offering to discuss handing over Qi Fenglei, then captured the dragon’s essence soul.
• The Red-faced Old Daoist swallowed the Dry Yang Fire Pearl and vanished to activate Qingyun Temple’s hidden reserves.
• Murong rallied the temple’s disciples to maintain the formation until Yueyang Palace could send help.
• Luo Hong declined Dong Lijun’s offer to fight and ordered Qing Feng to break the formation with the Heavenly Demon Banner, allowing the demons to feed without destroying the cultivators’ intelligence.
• Qing Feng raised the Heavenly Demon Banner, and its demonic howls unsettled Qingyun Temple’s disciples before they noticed a sudden shadow.

Luo Hong used the Heavenly Demon Banner and Universe Power to send an extraterrestrial boulder crashing into Qingyun Temple’s grand formation, breaking its barrier and leaving the temple in ruins. As ghostly shadows subdued the disciples without killing them, the Red-faced Old Daoist and three Nascent Soul cultivators raced to open the Heaven Concealing Box and began a desperate blood sacrifice.

• Luo Hong summoned an extraterrestrial boulder and used Universe Power to accelerate it toward Qingyun Temple’s barrier.
• Qingyun Temple’s formation sent waves of fire cranes and Vermilion Bird-like fire birds against the meteor, but the barrier collapsed after the impact and its controllers died from the backlash.
• Luo Hong noted that the falling boulder had amplified Universe Power to around eighty million units, then headed for Qingyun Peak as debris battered the temple.
• Gray-white ghostly shadows subdued Qingyun Temple’s disciples, and Luo Hong assured Dong Lijun that he would not take their lives.
• The Red-faced Old Daoist and three Nascent Soul cultivators hurried to open the Heaven Concealing Box after learning the formation had fallen.
• The Red-faced Old Daoist and two junior brothers severed their arms and used the blood to fuel the box-opening ritual.

Wei Li obtained the Bliss Mirror and prepared to use it against Luo Hong, while Qingyun Temple’s elders revealed why they had entrusted him with the temple’s fate. Luo Hong confronted the four Nascent Soul cultivators, but Wei Li trapped him in the Bliss Illusionary Realm.

• The Red-faced Old Daoist gave Wei Li the Bliss Mirror and sent him to master it before Luo Hong arrived.
• The Red-faced Old Daoist explained that Wei Li was responsible for bringing Luo Hong to Qingyun Temple and that his Mirage Spirit Eye suited the mirror.
• Wei Li ordered Daoist Leng to bring Qi Fenglei out of prison, then began channeling the Bliss Mirror.
• Luo Hong and Dong Lijun discovered that an illusion had concealed the four Nascent Soul cultivators near Qingyun Peak.
• Wei Li activated the Bliss Mirror as Luo Hong attacked, drawing Luo Hong into an illusionary palace that resisted his divine sense.