Chapter Summaries

Chu Mu modified four Azure Wolf Puppets to work with the Four Elephants Suppressing Prison Array, then emerged from seclusion and reconsidered remaining on the dangerous frontline. Before he could decide, the Longevity Sect launched a sudden attack on the outpost camp.

• Chu Mu received Chang Zhen’s Four Elephants Suppressing Prison Array and returned to his quiet room to adapt it for his four Azure Wolf Puppets.
• Chu Mu spent more than half a month modifying the puppets, creating an array that could restrain even middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• After leaving seclusion, Chu Mu learned that three bounties on Zhao Hong’s relatives or friends had been claimed and considered returning to Water Sky Market or heading farther to the rear.
• Chu Mu saw the Longevity Sect’s white Flying Boats bombard the camp’s protective array, throwing the outpost into chaos.

Chu Mu watched the Longevity Sect attack the Righteous Path Alliance camp and was conscripted to help oversee its defenses. The Earth Vein Fire Qi suddenly detonated, destroying the formation and engulfing the camp; as the attackers targeted him, Chu Mu escaped into the sea of fire and magma to conceal himself.

• Chu Mu observed the camp's defenses exchanging fire with the Longevity Sect's Flying Boats while sound transmission contact was cut off.
• Longevity Sect agents damaged the protective formation from within, but the Righteous Path Alliance suppressed the unrest and summoned Chu Mu and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators to coordinate the defense.
• Chu Mu agreed to help oversee the camp's earth-fire instruments while the Foundation Establishment cultivators conserved their strength and watched the battle.
• The Earth Vein Fire Qi detonated, shattering the formation and engulfing the camp in fire and magma as the Longevity Sect's Flying Boats attacked.
• Chu Mu dodged the Flying Boats' attacks and plunged into the sea of fire to hide; the other Foundation Establishment cultivators did the same.

Amid the Longevity Sect’s attack on the Righteous Path Alliance camp, Chu Mu encountered Longevity True Disciple Xu Changqing, who tried to recruit him before they fought. After Chu Mu recognized Xu Changqing’s mastery of Divine Soul Sharpness and exchanged insights on Blade Intent with him, they parted on friendly terms, leaving Chu Mu with a way to contact the sect disciple.

• Longevity Sect’s Flying Boats bombarded the camp as Xu Changqing went looking for Chu Mu, whom he identified as a wanted criminal and gifted Artifact Refining grandmaster.
• A pursued rogue Foundation Establishment cultivator reached Chu Mu and begged for help, but Xu Changqing killed him after revealing his identity and offering Chu Mu a place as a True Disciple.
• Chu Mu refused to join the Longevity Sect, and Xu Changqing attacked him with a Flying Sword whose Divine Soul and Mana sharpness Chu Mu recognized.
• Chu Mu used his shield and Divine Soul Blade to withstand Xu Changqing’s attacks, then summoned four Azure Wolf Puppets and fought back with his Minghong Saber.
• After Xu Changqing recognized Chu Mu’s Blade Intent, Chu Mu proposed a trade, and they exchanged jade slips containing insights on the Dao Concept system and Blade Dao.
• Xu Changqing gave Chu Mu a Myriad Miles Sound Transmission Token and departed, while Chu Mu put away the token and puppets before traveling onward through the Magma Fire Sea.

Chu Mu discovered that the calm magma sea was home to numerous Earth Fire Spirits, refined them into Earth Fire Spirit Marrow, and found an incomplete sealing array deep beneath the flames. Suspecting it might be connected to the terrifying evil he had encountered in a Secret Realm, he sent reconnaissance devices through the array's gap.

• Chu Mu noticed the Earth Vein Fire Qi was unnaturally calm, then encountered several Earth Fire Spirits when the magma sea suddenly erupted.
• Chu Mu lured the spirits with Great Sun True Fire and used four Azure Wolf Puppets and a Four Symbols Grand Array to refine them into Earth Fire Spirit Marrow.
• Chu Mu continued through the magma sea, collected more than a dozen pieces of spirit marrow, and grew wary of the unusually dense population of Earth Fire Spirits.
• Chu Mu reached the bottom of the sea and discovered an incomplete grand array sealing off part of the fire sea, with dense crimson and golden light surging through a gap.
• Chu Mu suspected the array might be connected to the terrifying evil from the Secret Realm and sent several dragonfly reconnaissance spiritual devices through the gap.

Chu Mu discovered that the ancient grand array concealed a Third Order Fire Attribute Spirit Vein and an immense Fire Attribute Spirit Stone Mine. He realized the mine was the core of a natural grand array built to nurture something extraordinary, and cautiously continued investigating it.

• Chu Mu sent Bamboo Dragonflies into the damaged grand array and saw a vast field of solidified magma, Spirit Mines, and Fire Attribute Spirit Stones.
• Chu Mu entered the array, explored its ancient interior, and concluded that the hidden Underground Spiritual Vein was at least Third Order.
• Chu Mu followed the Azure Wolf Puppets to an enormous Fire Attribute Spirit Stone Ore Vein and ordered them to excavate.
• Chu Mu noticed the mine’s unusual arrangement and redirected the Azure Wolf Puppets to uncover the surrounding terrain.
• Chu Mu discovered that a natural grand array used the Spirit Vein, Earth Vein Fire Qi, and outer seal to nurture the Spirit Stone Ore Vein, and he continued searching for its core without damaging it.

Chu Mu uncovered a hidden cave beneath the Fire Attribute Spirit Stone Mine, where he found a long-sealed pill furnace, the jade-transformed corpse of a powerful female cultivator, and the remains of her possessions. He suspected the damaged grand array and unusual marks on the furnace were evidence that a Heavenly Tribulation had struck an extraordinary pill, and prepared to open the furnace.

• Chu Mu sensed an irregularity in the Spirit Stone Mine and carved a passage through it, leading to a hidden stone door and cave.
• Chu Mu entered the cave and discovered a Fire Attribute Spirit Stone altar supporting a pill furnace that had been changed by years of Earth Fire.
• Chu Mu found the jade-transformed corpse of a severely wounded female cultivator behind the furnace and recovered two Alchemy Manuals, several Third Order healing pills, and a six-hundred-year-old Stone Forest Ginseng from her ruined Storage Ring.
• Chu Mu noticed Thunder Attribute aura and lightning-like marks on the furnace, then suspected Heavenly Tribulation had damaged the grand array while striking the pill.
• Chu Mu formed seals to open the furnace and retrieve the pill, wondering whether it had survived the tribulation.

Chu Mu opened the ancient pill furnace and found a golden, three-pill-pattern alchemical pill whose effects remained unknown. He decided to claim the concealed Fire-Attribute Spiritual Vein and its resource-rich land, leaving to plan how to seal the damaged formation while he remained there.

• Chu Mu separated the pill furnace's fused lid and body, then opened it and caught the golden alchemical pill that burst out.
• Chu Mu sealed the pill in a Jade Box after finding that he could not determine its medicinal effects without risking damage to it.
• Chu Mu explored the interconnected formation and discovered a concealed Third-Order Spiritual Vein, a Spirit Stone Mine, and numerous valuable mineral deposits.
• Chu Mu resolved to keep the land intact and repair or isolate the formation so he could cultivate there and protect the resources.
• Chu Mu sent Xu Yuan and other acquaintances messages reporting that he was safe, and asked Xu Yuan to keep watch over Wangcai's transformation and breakthrough.

Chu Mu burned the ancient corpse, cultivated in seclusion at the Spirit Stone Ore Vein, and then traveled north in a Flying Boat he had designed and refined. He left his slow cultivation behind with few pills remaining and confirmed that his long-running revenge against Zhao Hong had been completed.

• Chu Mu burned the jade-like corpse and began cultivating beside the dense Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi.
• Chu Mu spent less than half a year in seclusion, consuming nearly all his Gong Palace Pills before ending his cultivation because his progress remained slow.
• Chu Mu traveled north aboard a High-Grade Spiritual Artifact Flying Boat that he had designed and refined.
• Chu Mu inspected the Anthropomorphic Puppet controlled by Zhao Hong's erased Divine Soul and reflected that his bounty had completed his revenge against Zhao Hong.

Chu Mu studied Xu Changqing’s Sword Path Notes and realized that his Divine Soul Blade meant he had already begun cultivating the Blade Dao. After checking on Wangcai’s nearly completed transformation, he redirected the Flying Boat toward Water Sky Market.

• Chu Mu read the jade slip and learned that Sword Intent refined the Spirit, confirming Spirit Refining as an independent cultivation system.
• Chu Mu recognized that the Divine Soul Blade in his Sea of Consciousness was Blade Intent and considered why he seemed unusually talented in blade techniques.
• Chu Mu put away the jade slip and decided to focus on his cultivation and gathering resources until he found proper Blade Dao manuals.
• Chu Mu watched Xu Yuan’s projection of Wangcai, whose transformation was nearing completion after almost two years.
• Chu Mu sent several transmissions and turned the Flying Boat toward Water Sky Market.

Wangcai completed his transformation and breakthrough after receiving the Adamantine Wolf Bloodline, leaving Chu Mu to assess his new strength and potential. Though the bloodline changed Wangcai’s body and instincts, he recognized Chu Mu and remained attached to him, so Chu Mu fed him blood food for further observation.

• Chu Mu activated the courtyard’s formations and sent Xu Yuan to supply Spirit Stones as Wangcai’s transformation began.
• Wangcai shrank to the size of an ordinary tiger, gained metallic fur and immense power, and awakened with a brief surge of savage instinct.
• Wangcai recognized Chu Mu and rubbed against him, easing Chu Mu’s fear that the Adamantine Wolf Bloodline had eroded his nature.
• Chu Mu examined Wangcai and found that the bloodline had changed his body and greatly improved his sensitivity to spiritual qi.
• Xu Yuan gave Chu Mu stored Blood Food, and Wangcai devoured the pile as his new cultivation aura gradually stabilized.

At a trade fair, Chu Mu asked Ji Ming to examine an incomplete pill formula, and Ji Ming speculated that the pill might reverse Spirit Root aptitude. Chu Mu returned to Jingmen with the mysterious pill, eager to identify it, then discovered several messages on an old Sound Transmission Talisman possibly connected to Zhao Shuang.

• Chu Mu showed Ji Ming an incomplete pill formula, and Ji Ming guessed that its Fire Attribute pill might reverse Spirit Root aptitude.
• Chu Mu reflected on how his Four Spiritual Roots limited his cultivation and left the Marketplace with Wangcai, bound for Jingmen.
• Aboard the Flying Boat, Chu Mu examined the golden pill but put it away without testing it, choosing to study books and Jade Slips instead.
• Chu Mu arrived at Jingmen and found a long-sealed Sound Transmission Talisman flashing with messages, possibly from Zhao Shuang.

Chu Mu received Zhao Shuang’s offer of a vast alchemy inheritance in exchange for rescuing her missing younger sister. He agreed to investigate and met Li Shang, a Jingmen Enforcement Hall squad leader implicated in the sisters’ plight, leaving the outcome uncertain.

• Chu Mu exchanged contribution points for supplies and met Zhao Shuang, who asked him to trade for an ancient alchemy inheritance.
• Zhao Shuang explained that her younger sister, an Alchemy Master, had disappeared after a Foundation Establishment Cultivator in Jingmen’s Enforcement Hall targeted them.
• Chu Mu agreed to rescue Zhao Shuang’s younger sister in exchange for the inheritance and promised to give Zhao Shuang an answer within three days.
• Chu Mu recognized Li Shang, the suspected cultivator, among his contacts and invited him to a restaurant.
• Chu Mu showed Li Shang a jade slip with the missing woman’s portrait and information, and Li Shang agreed to investigate despite his reaction.

Chu Mu learned that Zhao Yu recognized his fragmentary pill formula as the Fire Spirit Root Supplementing Pill, which could greatly improve his Fire Attribute Spirit Root. After carefully verifying the pill's effects under Spirit Radiance Blessing, he took it and sensed that its power was real.

• Zhao Shuang paid Chu Mu with an alchemy inheritance jade slip and explained that it came from the Cave Abode where Zhao Yu had failed a test.
• Chu Mu showed Zhao Yu his fabricated fragmentary formula, and she recognized it as a pill formula her mother had once discussed.
• In exchange for a First Order Late Stage humanoid Puppet, Zhao Yu recorded what she knew about the Fire Spirit Root Supplementing Pill and its Spirit Root-enhancing effect.
• Chu Mu realized the pill could bring his Fire Attribute Spirit Root close to the limit of his current aptitude, then had the sisters swear to keep the matter secret.
• After returning to his guarded residence, Chu Mu examined the pill and his evidence, then swallowed it while monitoring its effects with Spirit Radiance Blessing.
• Chu Mu sensed real changes in his Fire Attribute and concluded that the pill's effect was genuine.

After a year on the Jingmen Front, Chu Mu faced increasingly dangerous ambushes while working as an Artifact Refiner for the Righteous Path Alliance. When a bloodline cultivator attacked him after a Flying Boat was destroyed, Chu Mu tested the man’s abilities, trapped him with his Azure Wolf Puppets, and killed him.

• Chu Mu found that the Fire Spirit Root Supplementing Pill had raised his Fire Attribute to about fifty-three or fifty-four percent, though he could not actively refine it.
• Chu Mu studied Zhao Yu’s Alchemy Manual, selected three Foundation Establishment pill formulas, and considered improving the Spiritual Milk Pill formula to better use his Bell Stone Spiritual Milk.
• A year later, Chu Mu traveled between the Jingmen Front and Jingmen City as an Artifact Refining Grandmaster while the war intensified and ambushes became common.
• After a Flying Boat was destroyed in an ambush, Chu Mu fled but was pursued by a winged Hook-Nosed Cultivator who attacked him with claws and Diamond Sword Feather.
• Chu Mu tested the Hook-Nosed Cultivator’s speed and defenses, then restrained him with the Four Symbols Formation and killed him with his saber.

After returning to Jingmen City, Chu Mu examined the Bloodline Cultivation art taken from the Hook-Nosed Man and discovered that the slain cultivator’s corpse was slowly reviving. He traced the vitality to the Monster Beast bloodline and suspected it might contain a residual soul, but its origin and intentions remained unknown.

• Chu Mu passed the tightened inspections around Jingmen City, reported the ambush to Xie Cangfeng at the Weapon Hall, and returned to his residence.
• Chu Mu examined the Hook-Nosed Man’s Golden Feathered Red Hawk Art and learned that it required yearly doses of avian Monster Beast Essence Blood to prevent the bloodline from taking over.
• Chu Mu discovered that the decapitated Foundation Establishment corpse had begun to regain vitality and sealed it before investigating further with Wangcai present.
• Chu Mu traced the corpse’s revival to its Monster Beast bloodline and considered whether a residual soul within it had survived the Hook-Nosed Man’s death.

Chu Mu discovered that the Monster Beast Blood Essence contained a sleeping human Divine Soul capable of parasitizing anyone who cultivated its bloodline. He began refining it with Great Sun True Fire, but the soul stirred and manifested as a white-haired middle-aged man.

• Chu Mu surrounded the remnant corpse with puppets, formations, and Great Sun True Fire, then examined it closely when it showed no response.
• Chu Mu extracted a mass of Blood Essence and found a human Divine Soul fused within the Monster Beast bloodline.
• Chu Mu realized the Blood Essence could parasitize a cultivator and allow the hidden Divine Soul to seize their body after awakening.
• When the Blood Essence tried to seep toward him, Chu Mu burned it with true fire and decided to refine it rather than keep the danger.
• As Chu Mu resumed refining the Blood Essence, the Divine Soul stirred, spoke to him, and emerged as a white-haired middle-aged man in a gray-white robe.

Chu Mu awakened a remnant soul who asked him to deliver a bloodline inheritance to the man’s family in Great Heng within fifty years, offering a Blade Path Spirit Condensation Method and Blazing Sun Fire Essence in return. After signing a contract and receiving the rewards, Chu Mu secured the bloodline and decided to investigate the suspicious arrangement at his own pace.

• Chu Mu questioned the White-Robed Man, who explained that he was a fading remnant soul and asked Chu Mu to deliver his bloodline inheritance to his family in Red Eagle County, Great Heng.
• The White-Robed Man offered a Blade Path Spirit Condensation Method and a Storage Ring containing Blazing Sun Fire Essence as payment, and Chu Mu recognized the rare material as essential to his Great Sun True Scripture.
• Chu Mu negotiated a fifty-year deadline, required the inheritance to be harmless and protected, and made the White-Robed Man sign a Soul Contract and swear an Oath of the Dao Heart.
• The White-Robed Man revealed that he had reached the Golden Core realm, gave Chu Mu the cultivation method, and returned to the blood essence before his remnant soul disappeared.
• Chu Mu sealed and nourished the bloodline inheritance, reinforced his residence with puppets and a formation, and weighed the suspicious deal while keeping the rewards and the initiative.

Chu Mu studied the Tai Gang Blade Art, cultivated its blade-path techniques, and used his remaining Contribution Points to buy pills for a breakthrough. After nearly half a year in seclusion, he reached the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and saw his Fire Spirit Root aptitude continue to improve.

• Chu Mu learned that the Tai Gang Blade Art taught Blade Intent applications, including Blade Intent Finger Flick and Blade Intent Spirit Guard.
• Chu Mu exchanged nearly eight thousand Contribution Points for Golden Bloom pills and entered seclusion to cultivate.
• Chu Mu spent several months practicing the Finger Flick Divine Power and Blade Intent Spirit Guard while refining pills and tempering his Mana and body.
• Chu Mu tested his Finger Flick Divine Power on an experimental monkey Puppet and found its power roughly matched a Second Order High Grade offensive Talisman.
• Chu Mu saw his Fire Spirit Root aptitude rise to nearly seven and a half points as the Root Supplementing Pill continued to merge with him.
• Chu Mu consumed nearly all his pills and advanced to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, greatly increasing his Mana and Divine Soul.

After reaching Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, Chu Mu learned that the war had escalated to clashes between Nascent Soul cultivators and decided he could not remain in Jingmen. As he wondered where to flee within the Righteous Path Alliance’s territory, an explosion shook the city center.

• Chu Mu emerged from half a year of seclusion, cleaned his courtyard, and learned from sound transmissions that the war had worsened and Golden Core cultivators had fought at Jingbei Mountain Range.
• Chu Mu went to an auction house to gather information, where Xie Ming told him that Golden Core True Persons had fought at East Lake and that a Nascent Soul battle had reportedly taken place in the Longevity Mountain Range.
• After deciding to leave Jingmen, Chu Mu joined an exchange meeting where Foundation Establishment cultivators debated whether to flee or stay for the rewards, and most agreed that great upheaval was near.
• Chu Mu considered where he could safely go within the Righteous Path Alliance’s territory when a heaven-shaking roar sounded and flames and smoke rose from the city center.

After the Longevity Sect launched an assault on Jingmen City with three fourth-rank flying boats, Chu Mu realized the city was under siege and that escape was no longer an option. When the Righteous Path Alliance’s Vice Hall Master summoned him, he chose to go and seek some control over his role in the coming battle.

• A blast of flames erupted in Jingmen City’s central district before a powerful cultivator suppressed it, and the Righteous Path Alliance imposed martial law.
• Chu Mu secured the Blood Essence in a sealed box and decided he would leave once the lockdown ended.
• A bombardment from three Longevity Flying Boats shook Chu Mu’s residence and revealed that the decisive battle had begun.
• Xie Ning arrived to summon Chu Mu on behalf of the Vice Hall Master, and Chu Mu agreed to go with her.