Chapter Summaries

At Qian Tianbao’s funeral, Qian Mulan revealed her Foundation Establishment cultivation and searched his Storage Bag for a missing jade slip, then asked about the cultivators present when he died. Elsewhere, a Moon Concealing Sect woman cleared a tea pavilion and called down a hesitant yellow-clad youth.

• Qian Mulan arrived at Qian Tianbao’s funeral and shook the mourning hall with her spear, revealing that she had reached Foundation Establishment.
• Clan Leader Li gave Qian Mulan her father’s bloodstained Storage Bag, and she found that the jade slip she sought was missing.
• Qian Mulan asked whether other cultivators had been present when Qian Tianbao died, while Zhao Qingling warned her not to blame Luo Hong and Yu Ruoxi.
• At a Spiritual Tea Garden near Shanyang City, Huang refused Song’s request for Foundation Establishment Pills but agreed to introduce Song’s youngest son to the Moon Concealing Sect.
• A White Clad Woman from the Moon Concealing Sect dismissed Huang and Song, then called a hesitant yellow-clad youth down to speak with her.

Yu Ruoxi gave Luo Hong a Foundation Establishment Pill to repay him for saving her, and he gave her Primordial Heavy Water in return. After returning to Fanghua Garden, Luo Hong asked Elder Zhuo about his martial arts, hoping to improve his ability to fight.

• Yu Ruoxi offered Luo Hong a Foundation Establishment Pill, but he gave her Primordial Heavy Water so she would still owe him a favor.
• Yu Ruoxi accepted the rare spiritual liquid and left to return to her sect, saying she would enter seclusion to form her core.
• After Yu Ruoxi departed, Huang suggested that Song send his plain-looking eldest nephew to the Moon Concealing Sect, reasoning that ordinary looks might stand out there.
• Luo Hong flew for more than ten days and returned to Fanghua Garden, where Elder Zhuo reported that the garden had been peaceful during his absence.
• Luo Hong asked Elder Zhuo whether his martial arts were among the best, and Elder Zhuo explained that even the Uncommon Fist Saint's skills were ineffective against a Cultivator's Protective Spiritual Shield.

After finishing his martial arts training, Luo Hong used the half-year delay before he could cultivate again to plan how to strengthen his essence and primordial spirit. He assessed his options and outlined what was known about the primordial spirit, leaving its nature and cultivation path unresolved.

• Elder Zhuo taught Luo Hong martial arts, and Luo Hong mastered the techniques in a month before reaching the limits of worldly martial arts.
• The Blue Sphere’s pure spiritual qi refined Luo Hong’s magic power and raised its purity, forcing him to wait about half a year before resuming cultivation.
• Luo Hong reviewed his vitality, magic power, and primordial spirit statistics and assessed his immense physical strength after the Dragon Bone blood replacement.
• Luo Hong considered completing his blood replacement, cultivating the Great Five Elements Universal Saintly Art, or inscribing more Flood Dragon Bone Silver Runes to strengthen his essence.
• Luo Hong turned to researching the primordial spirit, listing its known traits and recognizing that its nature was difficult to observe directly.

Luo Hong investigated how the primordial spirit grew and found that it absorbed an unknown force when stimulated. Seeking a cultivation art to study it further, he approached Elder Ye for the Great Evolution Art and offered to pay for it.

• Luo Hong reasoned that neither spiritual qi nor silver runes nourished the primordial spirit, then tested a Soul Nurturing Pill and observed its faint reaction.
• Luo Hong concluded that the primordial spirit absorbed an unknown force when it fluctuated, a pattern also seen during intense emotional changes.
• Luo Hong traveled to the temporary residences of new disciples and asked Elder Ye for the Thousand Bamboo Sect's Great Evolution Technique.
• Elder Ye grew alarmed and used Spiritual Sense Pressure, but Luo Hong showed him Li Huayuan's Spiritual Sense Talisman to establish his identity.
• Luo Hong explained that he wanted the art for himself, not at Li Huayuan's command, and offered to pay Elder Ye in spirit stones.

Luo Hong traded four hundred Spirit Stones with Elder Ye for the first two layers of the Great Evolution Art and a promise to collect Demon Beast Essence Souls in the Bloody Forbidden Zone. Studying the art, he discovered Elder Ye had provided a simplified version that limited how many Split Spirits could be arranged, and he began wondering whether the primordial spirit resided beyond the Niwan Palace.

• Luo Hong offered Elder Ye five hundred Spirit Stones for the first two layers of the Great Evolution Art, explaining that he wanted to prepare for the Blood Seal Trial.
• Elder Ye agreed to take four hundred Spirit Stones if Luo Hong collected ten Demon Beast Essence Souls, or two from First Grade Top Stage beasts, in the Forbidden Land.
• Elder Ye copied part of the art onto a jade slip and gave Luo Hong a Soul Gathering Bottle, and Luo Hong returned to his courtyard to study it.
• Luo Hong found that the art's cultivation method strengthened his primordial spirit, but its Split Spirit instructions used a simplified arrangement that could hold at most five Split Spirits.
• Luo Hong questioned whether the primordial spirit's true dwelling place was somewhere beyond the Niwan Palace.

Luo Hong theorized that primordial spirits drew power from the Outer Realm and devised ways to accelerate their growth. He spent the next half year cultivating his spirit and body, then began training Essence, Energy, and Spirit equally.

• Luo Hong studied the Great Evolution Divine Monarch’s notes and concluded that primordial spirits had projections in the Outer Realm that attracted Gray Mist and Outer Realm Sky Demons.
• Luo Hong identified Split Spirits and breakthroughs in the Great Evolution Technique as ways to strengthen his primordial spirit, and considered using an Outer Realm Sky Demon as nourishment.
• Luo Hong set aside the dangerous experiment and cultivated the Great Evolution Split Spirit Technique, successfully forming four Divine Sense Orbs before pausing to recover.
• Luo Hong spent half a year strengthening his primordial spirit and physical body, while Old Demon Han occasionally visited for spell advice and the Li Family Sisters remained away.
• Luo Hong reached his calculated Mana Purity and began dividing each day equally among cultivating Essence, Energy, and Spirit.

Two years later, Yu Ruoxi recovered memories of her intimate encounter with Luo Hong and struggled with whether to accept him as her Dao companion. Seeking guidance on Core Formation, she learned from Nangong Wan that her unresolved love could become a Heart Demon, leaving her to choose between marrying Luo Hong and killing him.

• Treasure Woman waited outside Yu Ruoxi's building, unaware that Yu Ruoxi had already awakened and was agonizing over Luo Hong.
• Yu Ruoxi decided to postpone her choice and went to seek Nangong Wan's advice about Core Formation.
• Nangong Wan praised Yu Ruoxi's cultivation and Pure Ice Body but warned that her feelings for someone could cause a Heart Demon during Core Formation.
• Nangong Wan said Yu Ruoxi could resolve the predicament by marrying her beloved or killing him, and urged her to decide for herself.

Luo Hong taught Han Li to control spells with divine sense and traded him Spirit Water Body Protection Talismans before they discussed the dangerous Blood Seal Trial. At the trial’s gathering, Luo Hong disguised himself with an iron mask, while Han Li and the hidden Deity Transformation Stage cultivator Xiang Zhili entered the scene.

• Luo Hong taught Han Li how to shape spells with divine sense, then sold him five Spirit Water Body Protection Talismans in exchange for pills.
• Han Li admitted he had joined the Blood Seal Trial because he needed a Foundation Establishment Pill, despite fearing the danger.
• Luo Hong put on an iron mask and remarked that Nangong Wan would soon have trouble.
• A month later, Han Li gathered with Yellow Maple Valley’s trial participants and failed to recognize the masked Luo Hong.
• Luo Hong spotted Xiang Zhili, who had concealed his Deity Transformation Stage cultivation to enter the Bloody Forbidden Zone, and quickly returned to his disguise.

Luo Hong entered the Forbidden Land and arrived at the Great Snow Mountain, where he encountered two Blade Transformation Dock disciples. After warning them to leave, he faced the suspicious Yan Xiao and Han Tianya.

• Li Huayuan accepted Floating Cloud Child’s wager and brought Luo Hong into it, promising him an Invisible Needle Talisman Treasure if he helped win.
• The Seven Sects’ Core Formation Elders opened the Forbidden Land Grand Array, and Luo Hong and Han Li entered after the other disciples.
• Luo Hong arrived at the Great Snow Mountain and considered searching for Ice Crystal Snow Lotus, which he planned to keep if he found an especially old one.
• Yan Xiao and Han Tianya encountered Luo Hong on the mountain and readied their Magic Artifacts.
• Luo Hong told Yan Xiao and Han Tianya to leave because he did not want to kill them.

Luo Hong killed Yan Xiao and drove Han Tianya away, then climbed the Great Snow Mountain to search for an Ice Crystal Snow Lotus. After testing his new Dark Green Seed on ambushing Demon Beasts, he approached the herb as a huge underground worm charged toward him.

• Luo Hong killed Yan Xiao with a Dark Green Seed, and Han Tianya fled rather than avenge her.
• Luo Hong burned Yan Xiao's corpse, took her Storage Bag and Yin Soul Chain, and claimed the magic artifact for himself.
• Luo Hong climbed the Great Snow Mountain and killed two Snow Rock Toads with Dark Green Seeds before avoiding the others nearby.
• Luo Hong sensed the Ice Crystal Snow Lotus near the summit and followed its Spiritual Qi with a Zither-shaped Bone Shield ready.
• Luo Hong detected a huge worm burrowing toward him and approached the Spiritual Herb, expecting the creature to fight him aboveground.

Luo Hong killed a Giant Head Gu, obtained a thousand-year Ice Crystal Snow Lotus, and continued toward the Forbidden Land’s Central Area. He then discovered three Spirit Beast Mountain disciples plotting to find a Golden Light Eagle.

• Luo Hong battered the Giant Head Gu’s shell with Dark Green Seeds and killed it with a powerful strike from his Mountain Shaking Spear, accidentally destroying its essence soul.
• Luo Hong collected valuable parts from the Giant Head Gu, identified the Ice Crystal Snow Lotus as a thousand-year spiritual herb, and sealed it in a Secret Box.
• Luo Hong headed toward the Ring Stone Wall, but changed course after sensing a large swarm of strange bees.
• Luo Hong discovered Spirit Beast Mountain disciples Zhu Sanzhong, Hou, and Yu discussing Zhu Sanzhong’s family map and the location of a Golden Light Eagle.

Luo Hong followed three Spirit Beast Mountain disciples into the Forbidden Land's Central Area, hoping to study a pair of Golden Light Eagles. At the Bronze Gate, he stopped to copy Ancient Script that he believed had been left by a Heavenly Talisman Sect expert.

• Luo Hong recognized the Golden Light Eagles' unusual growth as a chance to research changes in Silver Runes and decided to follow the group hunting them.
• Junior Brother Yu demanded the eagles' feathers and claws, while Zhu Sanzhong assigned Hou Jin their essence souls and demon blood to settle the division of the spoils.
• Zhu Sanzhong led Hou Yu and Hou Jin through the Bronze Gate, and they waited among the flowers for the fog over the Ring Mountains to clear.
• Luo Hong followed them to the gate but chose to remain outside, wary of entering the Central Area and encountering Xiang Zhili.
• Luo Hong examined the Ancient Script on the gate and concluded that a Heavenly Talisman Sect ancestor had left it there to break a Restriction.
• Luo Hong took out blank Green Talisman Paper and began copying the Ancient Script, including the Silver Runes hidden within it.

Luo Hong watched Han Yunzhi’s group encounter Zhu Sanzhong’s party while both groups sought the summit of a Ring Mountain. Han Yunzhi yielded after her companions urged her to retreat, but the Daoist then blocked their path as Zhu Sanzhong’s group prepared to attack the Golden Light Eagles.

• The Moon Sun Treasure Pearl revealed the Ring Mountains, and the waiting disciples rushed into the forests.
• Luo Hong followed Zhu Sanzhong and his two companions toward a summit where they encountered Han Yunzhi’s group.
• Han Yunzhi refused to yield at first because she believed the summit held a Blazing Sun Flower needed to save her brother.
• The Pure Void Sect Daoist and the Yellow Maple Valley woman persuaded Han Yunzhi to leave, and she led them away from the summit.
• Zhu Sanzhong’s group prepared to fight the Golden Light Eagles and prevent Han Yunzhi’s party from returning.
• The Pure Void Sect Daoist stopped Han Yunzhi’s group halfway down the mountain.

Han Yunzhi agreed to return with the Young Daoist and Senior Sister Song to ambush her senior brothers, while Luo Hong decided to take the Young Daoist’s spirit bird. At the Golden Light Eagle’s nest, Zhu Sanzhong and his companions trapped the Mother Eagle, but the Father Eagle arrived before they could finish her.

• The Young Daoist proposed using his Yellow-winged Bird and Spirit Communication Token to watch the battle and ambush the Spirit Beast Mountain disciples, and Han Yunzhi agreed after Senior Sister Song confirmed the Blazing Sun Flower was at the peak.
• Luo Hong watched the three women head back toward the peak and decided the Young Daoist’s spirit bird would be his.
• Zhu Sanzhong, Junior Brother Yu, and Hou Jin reached the Golden Light Eagle’s nest and attacked the Mother Eagle with the Crimson Flame Net, spells, and Poison Fire Bees.
• Zhu Sanzhong sent his Steel-backed Boar to charge the trapped Mother Eagle, but the Father Eagle swooped down and flipped the boar into the air.
• As the Mother Eagle began to break free, Zhu Sanzhong used an Initial High Grade Fire Dragon Talisman to engulf her and send the Fire Dragon after the Father Eagle.

Han Yunzhi and the Young Daoist prepared to ambush the cultivators on the summit after spotting the Blazing Sun Flower, while Zhu Sanzhong, Hou Jin, and Junior Brother Yu fought over the Golden Light Eagles. Hou Jin killed the Father Eagle but was poisoned by Zhu Sanzhong, and Junior Brother Yu survived the ambush after recognizing Zhu Sanzhong's intentions.

• Han Yunzhi confirmed that Zhu Sanzhong had picked the Blazing Sun Flower, then used an Illusionary Fragrance Talisman to incapacitate the Poison Fire Bees guarding the mountain path.
• Hou Jin made his Poison Fire Bees devour one another and use their powerful self-destructs to defeat the Father Eagle, winning both Golden Light Eagle corpses.
• Zhu Sanzhong agreed that Hou Jin could have the eagle corpses and sent Junior Brother Yu to help him deal with them.
• Zhu Sanzhong secretly used the Steel-backed Boar to shoot poisoned needles at Hou Jin and Junior Brother Yu, killing Hou Jin.
• Junior Brother Yu dodged the poisoned needles and explained that Zhu Sanzhong's excessive generosity had made him suspect a betrayal.

Junior Brother Yu’s trap against Zhu Sanzhong was interrupted when Han Yunzhi’s group attacked, misunderstanding the situation. The conflict shifted into a chaotic battle, where Little Black revealed its ability to pierce the Steel-backed Boar’s defenses and drain its blood essence.

• Junior Brother Yu trapped Zhu Sanzhong’s Steel-backed Boar in the Crimson Flame Net and sent his awakened Fire Serpents to burn it.
• Han Yunzhi, the young daoist, and the yellow-shirted woman ambushed Junior Brother Yu, forcing him to release the boar and interrupt his attack.
• Han Yunzhi’s group realized they had mistaken the situation and paused while Zhu Sanzhong and Junior Brother Yu recovered their Magic Power.
• Zhu Sanzhong and Junior Brother Yu joined forces and attacked the yellow-shirted woman, prompting the young daoist to defend her with an Eight Trigrams Disc.
• Little Black leapt onto the Steel-backed Boar, pierced its Yellow Spirit Light defenses, and began draining its blood essence.

Luo Hong appeared at the Golden Light Eagle nest, killed Zhu Sanzhong, and drove Junior Brother Yu to flee while Han Yunzhi’s group survived. Little Black recognized Luo Hong despite his disguise, and Han Yunzhi offered him two Dan Zhu eggs in exchange for a Blazing Sun Flower.

• Luo Hong took the Golden Light Eagle egg and claimed Hou Jin’s Spirit Beast Bag to store it.
• Luo Hong killed Zhu Sanzhong instantly with a Dark Green Seed, while Junior Brother Yu escaped under cover of poisonous mist.
• Han Yunzhi sent Little Black to steal Zhu Sanzhong’s Storage Bag, but the dog recognized Luo Hong and went to him instead.
• Luo Hong identified himself as Zhuo Bufan and claimed the Demon Beast Egg, prompting the young daoist and the yellow-shirted woman to plead for their lives.
• Han Yunzhi offered Luo Hong two Dan Zhu eggs in exchange for a Blazing Sun Flower.

Luo Hong traded a Blazing Sun Flower to Han Yunzhi and obtained the young daoist’s Yellow-winged Bird in exchange for a Copper Juice Fruit. After Luo Hong left, Han Yunzhi’s companions decided the Bloody Forbidden Zone was too dangerous and prepared to retreat to its outskirts.

• Luo Hong traded a low-grade Blazing Sun Flower to Han Yunzhi for two Demonic Beast Eggs and released her Spirit Beast, Little Black.
• Luo Hong offered the young daoist a Copper Juice Fruit in exchange for the Spirit Communication Token controlling the Yellow-winged Bird, and the young daoist accepted.
• Luo Hong took the Yellow-winged Bird and advised Han Yunzhi and her companions to retreat to the Forbidden Land’s outskirts.
• The young daoist gave Han Yunzhi the Golden Light Eagle materials, and she collected them and fed the eagles’ blood essence to Little Black.
• The young daoist and Senior Sister Qi told Han Yunzhi they would stop gathering herbs with her because they feared the Bloody Forbidden Zone was too dangerous.

Luo Hong set up the Misty Rain Insight Formation at the Forbidden Zone’s fixed exit, intending to collect Spiritual Herbs as tolls from departing trial disciples. He left the Yellow-winged Bird to inspect the Stone Wall’s bronze gates, and its token signaled that it had reached the western gate.

• Han Yunzhi refused Little Black’s urging to follow Luo Hong and headed with Little Black and Little White toward a map location marked with Blazing Sun Flowers.
• Luo Hong returned to the Forbidden Land’s Outskirts and sent the Yellow-winged Bird to inspect the bronze gates on the Stone Wall, promising it half a Yellow Dragon Pill.
• Luo Hong reached a forest clearing and set up the Misty Rain Insight Formation, which doubled his divine sense range and would eventually provide him with a renewing water-element shield.
• Luo Hong revealed that the clearing was the Bloody Forbidden Zone’s fixed exit and planned to demand Spiritual Herbs from every trial participant who tried to leave.
• The Spirit Communication Token signaled Luo Hong that the Yellow-winged Bird had reached the western bronze gate.

Luo Hong copied new ancient characters while the Bloody Trial’s elite disciples fought over the Central Area. After Han Tianya warned the Chen siblings about the Iron Mask Man, Chen Qiaoqian suspected he might be the man who had once saved her.

• Luo Hong used the Yellow-winged Bird’s vision to inspect a bronze gate and copied the dozen new ancient characters on it.
• Chen Fang Sheng and Chen Qiaoqian fought Zhong Wu and Han Tianya beside a stone house until Zhong Wu yielded.
• Han Tianya warned Chen Fang Sheng that the Iron Mask Man was so dangerous that survival might depend on keeping a hundred zhang away, and Chen Fang Sheng gave him a Cold Smoke Herb for the warning.
• Chen Fang Sheng suggested the Iron Mask Man might be the man who had saved Chen Qiaoqian, and she said she would seek him out after leaving the Forbidden Land.
• Zhong Wu told Han Tianya that he had also encountered a cautious Yellow Maple Valley disciple, while Han Tianya insisted he wanted no further contact with the Iron Mask Man.