Chapter Summaries

Chu Mu considered resuming Body Refining to purge hidden Alchemical Poison from his body, but hesitated over the cost in resources and time. After settling into Jade Serenity Town, he met its filthy, disorderly residents and recognized that the alluring Fairy Wang was someone he already knew.

• Chu Mu concluded that Body Refining might help purge Alchemical Poison from his body, though he worried that dual cultivation would consume too many resources and too much energy.
• Chu Mu left his dusty residence and surveyed Jade Serenity Town, finding its lax order and mixed population suitable for his current needs.
• An old cultivator offered to handle Chu Mu’s household filth, and Chu Mu paid him one Fragmented Spirit after Fairy Wang called out the old man’s dishonest pricing.
• Chu Mu headed toward the Marketplace and realized that Fairy Wang, despite seeming unfamiliar, was someone he knew.

Chu Mu visited Only Martial Pavilion and spent 1,730 Low-Grade Spirit Stones on Divine Wind Boots and a High-Grade Magical Artifact long saber. He then noticed a familiar-looking stretch of shops filled with beauties and wondered what kind of place it was.

• Chu Mu examined the magical artifacts at Only Martial Pavilion, including spirit-energy detectors and fire cannons.
• Chu Mu haggled with the attendant and bought the Divine Wind Boots for 750 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Chu Mu bought a High-Grade Magical Artifact long saber for 980 Low-Grade Spirit Stones and decided to save his remaining Spirit Stones.
• Chu Mu thought about making money from Puppet Art and then stopped when he recognized a familiar scent and saw a stretch of coquettish beauties.

Chu Mu shopped in the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace, avoided people who were watching him, and returned to Jade Serenity Town with new weapons, spells, and protective tools. After tallying his purchases at home, he considered using his wealth to visit the Black Market.

• Chu Mu found that Heaven’s Eye Stones now covered the Marketplace’s former surveillance blind spots, so he shopped under a new identity and bought techniques, talismans, artifacts, and a Micro Isolation Restriction.
• After buying the final layers of the Blazing Fire Art, Chu Mu noticed two figures targeting him, but he suppressed his urge to kill and shook off their surveillance by taking advantage of the Marketplace’s order.
• Chu Mu left Jade Emperor Valley by another route, circled the valley, restored his identity, and returned to his rented house in Jade Serenity Town.
• Chu Mu activated the Micro Isolation Restriction and examined his purchases, including the Minghong saber, Divine Wind Boots, and a Second Order Flying Goose Talisman.
• Chu Mu stored his talismans and other purchases, kept the two Dharma Artifacts at hand, and wondered whether he could afford a trip to the Black Market.

Chu Mu refined and practiced with the Minghong Saber and Divine Wind Boots, then produced Nourishing Meridian Pills and learned more about the threat tied to Jade Emperor Valley’s Outer Enforcement Team. After moving to a rough settlement outside the Marketplace, he met his neighbors and heard about their upcoming Exchange Meeting before leaving in response to a Sound Transmission Talisman.

• Chu Mu spent nearly ten days refining the Minghong Saber and Divine Wind Boots, then practiced with them until he could control them fluently, though using both drained his mana within about fifteen minutes.
• Chu Mu considered Body Refining and the Black Markets, but put aside the Blood Kill Token and chose to rely on Spirit Stones for what he needed.
• Chu Mu made thirty furnaces of Nourishing Meridian Pills, kept thirty percent of the pills, and left his room after more than a month of seclusion.
• Chu Mu read Wang Mazi’s transmissions and learned that the ambush involved a gang from Jade Emperor Valley and possibly Longevity Sect’s Outer Enforcement Team.
• Chu Mu met his neighbors Li Changping and Old Man Chen, who described life outside the Marketplace and invited him to a local Exchange Meeting.
• Chu Mu exchanged banter with Fairy Wang, then received a transmission and quickly left.

Chu Mu learned that Wang Mazi had been declared a wanted Heretical Cultivator and parted ways with him after exchanging supplies and information. Back in Jade Serenity Town, Chu Mu prepared to attend a neighbors’ Exchange Meeting while considering how to replace Wang Mazi as his agent.

• Wang Mazi told Chu Mu that the Enforcement Team had issued a wanted notice and bounty against him, with Zhao Tang and his Foundation Establishment father behind it.
• Wang Mazi decided to flee to the East Lake area, but Chu Mu declined to go with him and gave him half the pills; Wang Mazi handed Chu Mu a Jade Slip listing nearby Black Markets and contacts.
• Chu Mu returned to Jade Serenity Town and saw Cultivators streaming from the Longevity Sect’s Spirit Fields, reflecting on the arduous labor and his refusal to spend his life in menial work.
• Old Man Chen explained that he worked hauling feces to support his younger son, while the female cultivator Miao Yu criticized the son for exploiting and abusing him.
• Old Man Chen invited Chu Mu to a secret neighbors’ Exchange Meeting and warned him not to reveal it; Chu Mu gave Miao Yu his assumed name, Xu Tao.
• Chu Mu checked and restored his room’s Micro Isolation Restriction, then set aside a Nourishing Meridian Pill, eight Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and five Fragmented Spirit Stones for the meeting.

Chu Mu attended an Exchange Meeting in Jade Serenity Town, learned that cultivators offering lessons needed protection from the Enforcement Team, and bought a Spirit Energy Bomb. He recognized a jade slip recording the Brothers Niu’s Bull Strength Art as similar to the one containing the Puppet Art, then left town at midnight after secretly contacting Niu the Eldest.

• Miao Yu invited Chu Mu to the Exchange Meeting, where Li Changping introduced him to the Brothers Niu and the other cultivators.
• The He-surnamed cultivator taught cultivation advice and advertised spell lessons, while Li Changping explained that instructors paid offerings to Enforcement Team backers.
• Chu Mu abandoned his idea of competing in the teaching business and bought a Spirit Energy Bomb for eight Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• The He-surnamed cultivator displayed a reconnaissance flying-insect artifact, but Chu Mu held back from buying it to preserve his identity.
• The Brothers Niu offered the Bull Strength Art on a jade slip, and Chu Mu recognized its resemblance to the jade slip containing the Puppet Art.
• Chu Mu sent Niu the Eldest a Divine Sense Transmission; the Brothers Niu left early, and Chu Mu headed outside town at midnight.

Chu Mu exchanged Spirit Stones with the Niu Brothers for the Bull Strength Art and returned home, where he studied jade slips and considered his next steps. After reviewing Wang Mazi’s Black Market information, he prepared to investigate the Puppet Art’s origins and began examining the Bull Strength Art.

• Chu Mu met the Niu Brothers on a mountaintop, exchanged Spirit Stones for a jade slip containing the Bull Strength Art, and made a Dao Heart Oath with them.
• Chu Mu used his Divine Wind Boots to glide down the mountain, then returned to Jade Serenity Town and decided to stop selling Alchemical Pills while tensions remained high.
• Chu Mu compared the Bull Strength Art jade slip with the Puppet Art inheritance slip and concluded that both came from the same source and were connected to the hidden space beneath the Mysterious Fog over East Lake.
• Chu Mu spent until noon the next day sorting through Wang Mazi’s Black Market information and learned about the ties between local Black Markets, powerful figures, and the Longevity Sect.
• Chu Mu considered returning to the Black Market to investigate the Puppet Art, then began reviewing the Bull Strength Art’s cultivation method.

Chu Mu left the Marketplace and ventured into the mountains to test his strength, only to stumble into a fight involving a fleeing Longevity Sect disciple. The chapter ended with Chu Mu, the fugitive, and his three pursuers facing one another in a tense standoff.

• Chu Mu reflected on his unfamiliar identity and the long lifespan cultivators gained through cultivation.
• After greeting his neighbors, Chu Mu left town and headed into the mountains, where he felt an unexpected anticipation about being challenged.
• As he traveled beyond the safer area near the Marketplace, Chu Mu noticed signs of battle and realized his lack of combat experience made him uneasy.
• A Longevity Sect Outer Sect Disciple fleeing three pursuers mistook Chu Mu for an accomplice and attacked him with a sword.
• Chu Mu dodged behind Blazing Fire Barriers, then threw four Fireballs that forced the fleeing disciple to stop as the three pursuers arrived.

Chu Mu was ambushed alongside a Longevity Sect cultivator and killed the woman who attacked him with a barrage of Fireballs. After realizing the fight exposed his Divine Soul Aura and could reveal his identity, he decided to eliminate the remaining Heretical Cultivators and killed Scarface Man, leaving a two-on-two battle.

• Chu Mu tried to leave the confrontation, but a hidden Flying Needle attacked him and forced him to join the Longevity Sect man in defending against four enemies.
• Chu Mu used vines and his rapid Fireballs to overwhelm the beautiful woman controlling the Flying Needle, killing her and claiming her Magical Artifact.
• Chu Mu evaded Scarface Man while recovering mana, then realized the battle had exposed his Divine Soul Aura and could lead enemies to his true identity.
• Chu Mu decided to kill the remaining Heretical Cultivators and blasted Scarface Man to ashes, shifting the battle to two against two.

After defeating the attackers, Chu Mu left before Longevity Sect reinforcements arrived and hid in a cave to recover and assess his gains. He recognized his mana and endurance as major weaknesses, then discovered that the valuable High-Grade Magical Artifact he had taken was a nearly undetectable weapon called the Formless Needle.

• Chu Mu asked Sun Tao to conceal what had happened, then fled as figures from the Longevity Sect approached.
• Chu Mu traveled toward the Jade Emperor Black Market and meditated in a secluded cave until his mana recovered.
• Chu Mu reviewed the battle and concluded that his powerful spells could overwhelm poorly defended enemies, but his limited mana and endurance left him vulnerable in a prolonged fight.
• Chu Mu sorted through the spoils, finding several Magical Artifacts, including a High-Grade Flying Needle, along with a few Spirit Stones, Alchemical Pills, and Talismans.
• Chu Mu refined the Flying Needle and learned that it was called the Formless Needle; it could evade sight and spiritual sense while still, but faint traces appeared when it moved.

Chu Mu spent several days in the Jade Emperor Black Market buying cultivation knowledge and searching for a Weapon Refinement Technique inheritance, but failed to find one. He followed an invitation to an underground auction and consigned three bottles of One Pill Pattern Nourishing Meridian Pills, waiting for the auction house to verify them.

• Chu Mu entered the Jade Emperor Black Market, bought a volume of local news, and spent several hundred Spirit Stones on foundational cultivation texts.
• Chu Mu sold a Low-Grade Magical Artifact flying sword and a Medium-Grade Magical Artifact saber, then continued shopping for several days without finding a Weapon Refinement Technique inheritance.
• Chu Mu deliberately tested a suspicious follower, who gave him a jade token inviting him to an Underground Auction three days later.
• Chu Mu entered the hidden auction venue and accepted a private viewing room protected from spiritual sense.
• Chu Mu consigned three bottles of One Pill Pattern Nourishing Meridian Pills, and an eager Alchemy master hurried over to inspect them.

Chu Mu attended the auction, sold his One Pill Pattern Nourishing Meridian Pills, and won an Artifact Refining master's notes while marveling at the Bright Moon Battle Armor. Afterward, Old Li questioned him about the pills, and Chu Mu realized their pattern had drawn more attention than he expected.

• Old Li recognized Chu Mu's Nourishing Meridian Pill as having a One Pill Pattern, but the auction house attendant stopped him from prying into Chu Mu's privacy.
• The auction began with a Cold Light Sword and other valuable items, and Chu Mu's three bottles of pills sold for 2,800 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• The auctioneer demonstrated the Bright Moon Battle Armor, which sold for 22,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones, leaving Chu Mu fascinated by its potential alongside his Puppet Art.
• Chu Mu won the Artifact Refining master's handwritten notes for 1,200 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Old Li delivered Chu Mu's auction proceeds and asked about the pills' source, and Chu Mu falsely claimed he had obtained them from a reseller in Jade Emperor Valley Market.
• Chu Mu left the auction house reflecting that Wang Mazi was known in the Black Market and that pill patterns could reveal an alchemist's identity.

After the underground auction rekindled Chu Mu’s interest in Artifact Refining and Puppetry, he hurried back toward the Jade Emperor Valley Market and dealt with two cultivators who ambushed him. He reached Jade Serenity Town safely and reviewed his purchases and spoils, eager to begin studying his new inheritance.

• Chu Mu left the Black Market eager to return and study Artifact Refining and Puppetry, but two cultivators attacked him on the road.
• Chu Mu killed the attackers, extracted and preserved their remnant souls, refined their bodies into two Qi and Blood Great Pills, and burned the remains.
• Chu Mu recalled how mortal bodies had been used to make similar pills in Nanshan Town and understood why the boy there had become deranged.
• Chu Mu reached Jade Serenity Town without further trouble, secured his room with a Micro Isolation Restriction, and laid out his books, Artifact Refining Manual, pills, and battle spoils.

Chu Mu began Body Refining and confirmed that it could purge accumulated alchemical poison, slightly easing his Qi Refining bottleneck. He then spent months studying Artifact Refining while life in Jade Serenity Town continued to change around him, and another early spring arrived.

• Chu Mu studied five Body Refining manuals and concluded that Body Refining complemented Qi Refining by strengthening the body and cultivating Qi-Blood.
• He practiced the Bull Strength Art with a Body Tempering Pill and sensed that the cultivation expelled impurities, including alchemical poison, weakening his bottleneck at the peak of the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.
• Chu Mu began studying the Artifact Refining Manual and spent nearly a month sorting out its foundational knowledge.
• Over the following months, Chu Mu studied in his room, occasionally walked around town, and gradually became more familiar with his neighbors.
• Residents left Jade Serenity Town for the Marketplace or departed in search of other paths, while new cultivators moved in and Li Changping found a Dao Companion.
• Several months passed as Old Man Chen, the female cultivator across the street, and the Niu Brothers continued with their lives, and early spring arrived again.

Chu Mu reflected on Miao Yu’s story of mortals sacrificed to refine a Ten Thousand Souls Banner and realized his original father may have disappeared in a similar conscription. He set the possible blood feud aside and prepared to begin practical artifact refining, with the Everlasting Rainbow Sword as his first model.

• Chu Mu chatted with Old Man Chen and Miao Yu outside his home.
• Miao Yu’s past revealed that a Golden Core True Person had conscripted hundreds of thousands of mortals as materials for a Ten Thousand Souls Banner, and her family had been among them.
• Chu Mu connected Miao Yu’s account to his original father’s disappearance during corvée labor but could not feel able to pursue revenge.
• Chu Mu reviewed his Light Screen Panel and saw that his study of the Everlasting Rainbow Sword had reached 99/100 in First Glimpse.
• Chu Mu considered the many materials and complex knowledge required for artifact refining and accepted that he would need to learn by copying established designs for a long time.

Chu Mu advanced to Qi Refining Eighth Layer and Body Refinement Second Layer, then went to the transformed Jade Emperor Valley Market, now Jade Emperor City. There, he met Sun Tao again and remained uncertain why the Longevity Sect was fortifying the city so heavily.

• Chu Mu broke through to Qi Refining Eighth Layer and Body Refinement Second Layer, but slowed his Qi Refining progress to keep pace with his body cultivation.
• Chu Mu received a Sound Transmission Talisman and left after speaking with Old Man Chen, who had upgraded his night-soil cart to compete with other workers.
• Chu Mu saw that Jade Emperor Valley Market had become a vast fortified city, with high walls, Giant God Cannons, and a stronger defensive array.
• Chu Mu suspected the fortress reflected growing conflict between sects and clans in Great Chu's Cultivation World.
• Chu Mu entered Jade Emperor City and reunited with Sun Tao, who had tracked him down through Xu Yuan.

Chu Mu weighed whether to join the Longevity Sect as Jade Emperor Valley’s tensions with the Lineages grew, then prepared for rising prices by buying spiritual materials in the Black Market. He ended the chapter interested in a rare High-Grade Magical Artifact Dharma Robe but short of the Spirit Stones to buy it.

• Sun Tao sold Chu Mu Body Refining pills at a discount and urged him to join the Longevity Sect’s upcoming Mountain Opening Ceremony, warning that the sect’s internal situation seemed troubling.
• Chu Mu visited his residence, fed Wangcai, and decided to avoid the conflict between the sect and the Lineages rather than risk becoming a low-level disciple or exposing his Spiritual Radiance.
• Xu Yuan told Chu Mu that the Spirit Fields were being moved into the city, and Chu Mu gave him Spirit Stones and Alchemical Pills so he could improve his cultivation.
• Chu Mu noticed that prices for Talismans, Dharma Artifacts, Alchemical Pills, and spiritual materials had risen, then spent more than a thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones stocking up on materials in the Jade Emperor Black Market.
• Chu Mu spotted a rare defensive Dharma Robe identified as a High-Grade Magical Artifact, but the young woman selling it demanded twelve hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, more than he had left.

Chu Mu agreed to refine Zhao Shuang’s ancient Soul Cleansing Pill formula in exchange for a High-Grade Dharma Robe and a batch of pills, and the two bound the deal with a Soul Contract and Oaths of the Dao Heart. He brought Zhao Shuang to his home in Jade Serenity Town, where she would stay for the six months he expected the work to take.

• Chu Mu offered Zhao Shuang a connection to an alchemist, and she revealed that she needed a First Order High-Grade ancient Alchemical Pill refined from five sets of Spirit Herbs.
• After Zhao Shuang promised the Dharma Robe and one batch of pills as compensation, Chu Mu examined the Soul Cleansing Pill formula and agreed to try refining it within half a year.
• Chu Mu and Zhao Shuang signed a Second-Order Divine Soul Contract, made Oaths of the Dao Heart, and Zhao Shuang gave him a Storage Talisman.
• Zhao Shuang said she would follow Chu Mu until the transaction was complete, and the two left the Jade Emperor Black Market together.
• Chu Mu warned Zhao Shuang to pose as his relative and not cause trouble, then brought her to his empty house in Jade Serenity Town and assigned her a room.

Chu Mu examined a High-Grade Magical Artifact Dharma Robe and found rare Spirit Herbs and an ancient Soul Cleansing Pill formula in a Storage Talisman. He considered the formula’s mysterious origins and decided to study its ingredients and attempt the difficult pill refinement.

• Chu Mu identified the blue Dharma Robe’s materials and restrictions, refined it, and found that it provided cleansing, spirit-gathering, and defensive effects.
• Chu Mu opened the Storage Talisman and discovered rare Spirit Herbs, including five five-hundred-year Crimson Blood Ginsengs and ten three-hundred-year Spirit Cleansing Grasses.
• Chu Mu examined a Jade Slip containing the Soul Cleansing Pill formula and recognized it as the third Jade Slip from the same unknown source as the Niu brothers’ cultivation records.
• Chu Mu inferred that Zhao Shuang might have urgently sought the pill for someone whose soul was polluted, and wondered whether the formula and herbs came from a fortuitous opportunity connected to the Mysterious Fog.
• Chu Mu judged that refining the Soul Cleansing Pill would be difficult but decided to study the rare ingredients and build experience, beginning with a hundred-year Green Glow Grass.

After months of research, Chu Mu prepared to refine the Soul Cleansing Pill and discovered that Zhao Shuang possessed access to a Mid-Grade Spirit Artifact pill furnace. He entered his room to begin the work while Zhao Shuang anxiously waited outside.

• Chu Mu told Zhao Shuang he could attempt the Soul Cleansing Pill refinement soon and ordered her to guard him from interruptions.
• Chu Mu visited Jade Emperor City, saw that prices had risen sharply, and went to the Only Martial Pavilion to examine pill furnaces.
• Zhao Shuang revealed that she had a pill furnace better than the High-Grade Magical Artifact on display and led Chu Mu back to Jade Serenity Town.
• Zhao Shuang showed Chu Mu a Mid-Grade Spirit Artifact pill furnace, which he carried into his room.
• Zhao Shuang sent a Sound Transmission Talisman and waited outside, growing increasingly anxious as Chu Mu remained behind the closed door.