Chapter Summaries

Zhu Guiyou explained how the Zhu Family avoided losing its ancestral spirit vein by agreeing to become affiliated with the Li Clan and offering it the Wang Family’s spirit vein land. After the Zhu Family destroyed the Wang Family, cultivators across Wutong Prefecture began speculating about the Zhu Family’s new affiliation.

• Zhu Guiyou convened the Zhu Family’s upper echelon and explained that the clan would become the Li Clan’s affiliated force in exchange for giving it a spirit vein land.
• Zhu Fudong and the other elders approved Zhu Guiyou’s decision and discussed the Li Clan’s help in destroying the Wang Family.
• The Zhu Family destroyed the Wang Family and transferred its spirit vein land to the Li Clan.
• Seven days later, cultivators in Wutong Prefecture markets spread news of the Wang Family’s destruction and speculated about why the Zhu Family had given its spirit vein to the Li Clan.

Li Qianqing moved a third Micro Spirit Vein into Luoyun Valley, making it the Li Family’s third spirit vein land suitable for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to garrison. As Yan Xuewei went to invite Duan Rongrong to help prepare Luoyun Valley, she learned Duan Rongrong had advanced enough to set up medium-sized Second-Order High Grade Spirit Arrays.

• Li Qianqing used a Spirit Guiding Plate to move a Micro Spirit Vein from the land offered by the Zhu Family toward Luoyun Valley.
• Li Qianqing told Li Xunchen that Li Xunting was the likely choice to garrison Luoyun Valley, and estimated she would arrive in about half a month.
• Li Qianqing waited until the Micro Spirit Vein had fully joined Luoyun Valley’s two existing veins, then returned to Changqing Mountain.
• Yan Xuewei visited Duan Rongrong after her seclusion ended and heard that Duan Rongrong could now set up medium-sized Second-Order High Grade Spirit Arrays.

Duan Rongrong traveled to Luoyun Valley with Li Qianqing and Li Xunting to establish a Medium Spirit Array for the Li Clan. After choosing the defensive Thick Earth Array, Duan Rongrong began preparing the valley, where Li Xunting would stay and guard the clan’s new territory.

• Yan Xuewei asked Duan Rongrong to help the Li Clan set up a Medium Spirit Array, and Duan Rongrong agreed to leave in five days.
• Duan Rongrong arrived at Changqing Mountain and met Li Qianqing, who gave her three Rank 2 Mid-Grade Spirit Enhancement Pills and mentioned he wanted Rank 2 High-Grade spiritual medicines for alchemy.
• Duan Rongrong showed Li Qianqing three Second-Order Low Grade Spirit Arrays, and he chose the defensive Thick Earth Array.
• Li Qianqing, Duan Rongrong, and Li Xunting traveled to Luoyun Valley, where Li Xunting would guard the area.
• Duan Rongrong prepared Li Xunting’s cultivation site, adjusted the spirit veins, opened three mu of Rank 2 Low-Grade Spiritual Field, and began setting up the Medium Spirit Array.

The Chen Clan Head weighed how the Li Family’s growing strength in Wutong Prefecture affected his plans to take down the Chang Clan and Sun Family. The Zhu Family welcomed the Li Family’s influence, while the Tian Family asked the Chang Clan for a spirit vein land with three Micro Spirit Veins.

• The Chen Clan Head learned that a Li Family Foundation Establishment cultivator guarded Luoyun Valley, reconsidered his plans, and decided to proceed with targeting the Chang Clan and Sun Family for now.
• Zhu Guiyou and Zhu Fudong discussed the news, agreed to send gifts to congratulate the Li Family, and planned to ask about Li Qianqing’s cultivation.
• More than half a month later, Tian Youken visited the Chang Clan Head and requested a spirit vein land with three Micro Spirit Veins so the Tian Family could better support the Chang Clan.

Tian Youken pressed the Chang Clan Head to secure a spirit-vein land for the Tian Family, but the negotiation ended without agreement and left the Chang Clan Head wary of the Tian Family’s intentions. On Changqing Mountain, Li Xunming reached the peak of the ninth Qi Refining layer and told Li Qianqing he planned to establish his foundation within half a month.

• Tian Youken asked the Chang Clan Head for a spirit-vein land, but the Chang Clan Head refused because the Chang Family could not spare one without endangering its subordinate forces.
• Tian Youken pointed out a subordinate clan’s spirit-vein land, prompting the Chang Clan Head to release Spirit Pressure and accuse him of making trouble.
• The Chang Clan Head wondered whether Tian Youken had tried to provoke him into an attack that would give the Tian Family an excuse to seize the Chang Family’s ancestral land.
• Li Xunming refined a Rank 1 High-Grade Qi Gathering Pill, reached the peak of the ninth Qi Refining layer, and decided he needed to establish his foundation before turning thirty.
• Li Xunming visited Li Qianqing and said he planned to begin foundation establishment within half a month; Li Qianqing agreed and began explaining the process and his own insights.

Li Xunming established Foundation in just forty-two days, choosing not to use the Foundation Establishment Pill Li Cunliu had given him so the family could save it for another cultivator. Li Cunliu worried that the choice had been too dangerous, but Li Lilong defended Li Xunming’s intention to benefit the family.

• Li Qianqing advised Li Xunming on Foundation Establishment, and Li Xunming developed an idea after hearing his guidance.
• Li Cunliu gave Li Xunming a Foundation Establishment Pill and urged him to establish Foundation early.
• Li Xunming entered secluded cultivation and successfully established Foundation after forty-two days without using the pill.
• Li Xunming showed Li Cunliu the unused Foundation Establishment Pill, alarming the Patriarch.
• Li Lilong arrived and defended Li Xunming, explaining that he had likely saved the pill for another clansman.
• Li Cunliu accepted that Li Xunming had acted for the family, though he still considered the decision dangerous.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, Li Xunming chose to remain on Changqing Mountain, travel to other countries, and cultivate the speed-focused Po Feng Art. He began consolidating his cultivation while his father, Li Xingtian, proudly spread news of his achievement in Tongyang County.

• Li Xunming chose to stay on Changqing Mountain and said he wanted to visit the Yue Kingdom and Lu Kingdom.
• Li Cunliu gave Li Xunming two Wind Attribute techniques, and Li Xunming selected Po Feng Art for its speed and escape technique.
• Li Xunming absorbed Po Feng Art from a Jade Slip and said he would eventually record a copy with his cultivation insights for the Clan Treasury.
• In Tongyang County, Li Xingtian told acquaintances that his son had become the Li Family's sixth Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Li Xingtian privately hoped that one of his future children might have a Heavenly Spiritual Root, though Li Xunming did not know of his thoughts.

Li Xunming returned to Changqing Mountain after successfully establishing his foundation, discussed his duties and postponed banquet with Li Qianqing, and was assigned to patrol Xiangshui Prefecture. Meanwhile, the Chen Clan weighed whether to attend his eventual banquet and how to respond to the Li Family’s growing influence.

• Li Xunming told Li Qianqing he had established his foundation without a Foundation Establishment Pill, and Li Qianqing accepted his choice and discussed the family’s future needs.
• Li Qianqing advised Li Xunming to master the Wind Tunneling Technique and strengthen himself before traveling, then assigned him to patrol Xiangshui Prefecture and its cultivator markets.
• Li Xunming said he would hold his Foundation Establishment Banquet after returning from his travels, while Li Qianqing hoped another family member would establish a foundation first.
• Two months later, neighboring cultivation clans learned of Li Xunming’s success, and the Ma Family prepared a gift while waiting for the banquet date.
• Chen Bokui and Chen Changsheng discussed whether to attend Li Xunming’s banquet and considered improving the Chen Family’s relationship with the Li Family rather than aligning with the Chang Family and Sun Family.

Chen Changsheng and the Chen Clan Head decided to seek better relations with the Li family after Li Xunming’s Foundation Establishment Banquet. The following year, Li Qianqing welcomed a new Dual Spiritual Root child, Li Qiuling, and learned that Li Xingsheng had reached Qi Refining Ninth Layer Peak.

• Chen Changsheng persuaded the Chen Clan Head that the Chen family should improve relations with the Li family, and they planned to visit after Li Xunming’s Foundation Establishment Banquet.
• The Chen Clan Head reflected that the Chen family had avoided opposing the Li family and that its past decision not to attack the Jiang family had been fortunate.
• The next year, Li Qianqing welcomed Li Qiuling, a Qiu Generation cultivator with fire and wood Dual Spiritual Roots, and Li Xunmeng, a Xun Generation cultivator with Three Spiritual Roots.
• Li Qianqing planned to test Li Qiuling’s interest and talent in alchemy as he prepared to guide him after his three-year period.
• Li Qianqing saw Shu Shu beg Li Xingsheng for a spirit stone and learned that Li Xingsheng had reached Qi Refining Ninth Layer Peak two days earlier.

Li Qianqing urged Li Xingsheng to prepare carefully for his attempt at Foundation Establishment and offered to share his experience. Meanwhile, Yang Xiusheng led a group of eleven cultivators through the snow to attack Caolong County’s Cultivator Market as the first step in a plan against the Li Clan.

• Li Qianqing told Li Xingsheng to prepare thoroughly for Foundation Establishment and invited him to seek advice if he planned to attempt it within half a year.
• Li Xingsheng left Changqing Mountain to make preparations, while Shu Shu went with him.
• Yang Xiusheng gathered ten other cultivators outside Caolong County and confirmed that their mission was to loot its Cultivator Market and cause chaos.
• Yang Xiusheng revealed that Huo Tianling had ordered the operation because she feared the Li Clan’s growing strength, and that further steps would follow.
• Yang Xiusheng led the group toward the market, warning them to choose their targets carefully and avoid getting trapped in battle.

Loose Cultivators attacked Caolong County’s cultivator market, targeting weaker cultivators while the stronger residents held back. Li Xingpin learned that more than ten powerful attackers had arrived and sent a warning to Li Xunming, leaving the market’s response unresolved.

• Two Qi Refining Fifth Layer cultivators abandoned their planned robbery and fled when Loose Cultivators began attacking the market.
• Steward Ning chose not to intervene, while other Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivators also held back as the attackers targeted weaker cultivators.
• Li Xingpin sheltered a fleeing cultivator, who reported that more than ten strong Loose Cultivators, mostly at Late-Stage Qi Refining, had come.
• Li Xingpin judged that he could not resolve the situation and sent a Sound Transmission Talisman warning to Li Xunming.
• The Zhao Country Royal Family’s cultivator remained the manager of Caolong County’s cultivator market.

Li Xunming interrupted a looting spree at the Caolong County Cultivator Market and fought the Loose Cultivators attacking it. The remaining attackers fled or resisted while local cultivators joined the fight, and one Loose Cultivator tried to bargain for his life by naming the person behind the raid.

• Li Xunming received a Sound Transmission Talisman from Li Xingpin and hurried toward Caolong County.
• Li Xunming killed a Loose Cultivator who was about to kill a fleeing market cultivator, then entered the market and attacked the looters.
• The Loose Cultivators recognized Li Xunming as a Foundation Establishment cultivator and tried to flee, while market cultivators moved to hold them back and reclaim their Storage Bags.
• A Qi Refining Ninth Layer Loose Cultivator told Li Xunming that the group had acted under orders and offered to identify their leader.
• Li Xunming continued fighting with advanced spells and High-Grade Magic Tools, conserving his spiritual power after using the Wind Tunneling Technique to reach Caolong County.

Li Xunming arrived at Caolong County's Cultivator Market and crushed the loose cultivators' raid, but mastermind Yang Xiusheng escaped before Li Xunming could catch him. Afterward, Li Xunming reunited with Li Xingpin and asked how many loose cultivators had taken part.

• Yang Xiusheng recognized Li Xingsheng as a Li Clan Foundation Establishment cultivator and fled while Li Xunming focused on the raiders.
• Li Xunming wounded a Qi Refining Ninth Layer Loose Cultivator with the Hundred Crystal Ruler, then left three Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivators to guard him.
• The three cultivators further restrained and injured the captive, preventing him from explaining how he could lead Li Xunming to Yang Xiusheng.
• Li Xingpin observed the fighting from a safe distance, returned to his residence, and told a cultivator seeking shelter that the Li Clan's Foundation Establishment cultivator had arrived.
• Li Xunming reached Li Xingpin and asked how many loose cultivators had participated in the operation.

Li Xunming learned that the Li Clan had handled the Loose Cultivator attack and urged Li Xingpin to use the incident to strengthen the clan’s standing. He tracked down Yang Xiusheng with a captive’s Immortal Seeking Pearl, but after killing the captive, he found Yang had used a tunneling technique and continued the pursuit.

• Li Xingpin told Li Xunming that eleven or twelve Loose Cultivators had been involved, and Li Xunming said he had killed eight so far.
• Li Xunming told Li Xingpin the Li Clan could take advantage of the Royal Family’s manager failing to respond to the attack, and Li Xingpin set out to act.
• Li Xunming rewarded three cultivators for guarding a wounded Loose Cultivator, then carried the captive outside Caolong County and demanded that he locate Yang Xiusheng.
• The captive used an Immortal Seeking Pearl to point Li Xunming toward Yang Xiusheng, who was fleeing northwest.
• Li Xunming killed the captive and dropped his body, then pursued Yang after the tracking pearl continued to point his way.
• Yang Xiusheng used a tunneling technique to escape, but Li Xunming quickly followed, and Yang sensed the Foundation Establishment cultivator arriving as he tried to discard his belongings.

Li Xunming killed Yang Xiusheng before he could self-destruct and recovered a valuable Storage Bag. Meanwhile, Li Xingpin guided discussion in Caolong County's Cultivator Market to strengthen the Li Family's standing and undermine the royal family's manager, as cultivators wondered where the raiders had come from.

• Li Xunming questioned Yang Xiusheng, sensed him preparing to self-destruct, and killed him with a wind blade.
• Li Xunming took Yang Xiusheng's High-Grade Storage Bag, found Spirit Stones and three Jade Slips, and returned to the market to recover his spiritual energy.
• Li Xingpin encouraged word to spread that the Li Family had rescued the market while the Zhao Country Royal Family's manager had failed to organize resistance.
• Cultivators dismissed accusations that the Li Family had arranged the raid, citing the escaped raiders and the testimony of three cultivators who had helped Senior Li.
• The cultivators noticed they did not recognize the dead raiders and concluded that the group likely came from outside Xiangshui Prefecture.

After the Li clan’s intervention stopped the raid on Caolong County Cultivator Market, Li Xingpin rallied cultivators to support the clan taking over the market’s management. Li Xunming returned to Changqing Mountain with Yang Xiusheng’s remains, and Li Qianqing suspected someone important had been behind the raid.

• Half-Eyebrow’s accusations against the Li clan turned into mockery, and Li Xingpin promised the cultivators that the clan would act to take over the market’s management.
• Li Xunming returned with Yang Xiusheng’s remains and learned from an old cultivator that Yang had once been seen in Lei Prefecture.
• Li Xunming stayed briefly at Caolong County Cultivator Market to guard against further trouble before returning to Changqing Mountain.
• Li Xunming reported the raid to Li Qianqing and showed him Yang Xiusheng’s head.
• Li Qianqing concluded that someone was behind Yang Xiusheng and considered who that person might be.

Li Qianqing and Li Xunming concluded that Clear Wind Valley Elder Huo Tianling was the likeliest person behind the attack on the Li Family, and decided to continue the family’s development while warning Yan Xuewei. After the Li Family profited from the recovered spoils, Li Qianqing prepared to spread news of the Caolong County incident to strengthen the family’s position in managing Xiangshui Prefecture’s Cultivator Markets.

• Li Qianqing guided Li Xunming to suspect Huo Tianling, whose opposition to the Li Family’s rise threatened her faction’s interests in Clear Wind Valley.
• Li Qianqing told Li Xunming to follow the family’s development plan and said he would alert Yan Xuewei to watch Huo Tianling.
• Li Xunming turned over the recovered Storage Bags and received Contribution Points for their tools, materials, cultivation methods, spells, and books.
• Li Qianqing assessed Yang Xiusheng’s spirit stones as likely payment for the Loose Cultivators and noted that Li Xunming’s spoils amounted to over ten thousand spirit stones.
• Li Qianqing sent Yan Xuewei a warning through a Sound Transmission Talisman, then planned to spread news of the Caolong County attack among Xiangshui Prefecture’s other Cultivator Markets.

Li Qianqing used the Caolong County market raid to build support for the Li Clan taking control of more cultivator markets, while Yan Xuewei confirmed Huo Tianling had orchestrated the attack. Huo Tianling concluded that Yang Xiusheng was dead and turned her attention back to competing with Yan Xuewei.

• Li Qianqing arranged for news of the Caolong County raid and the royal manager’s failure to spread through the other markets, increasing cultivators’ trust in the Li Clan.
• Cultivators in four markets worried about their managers’ ability to protect them and said Li Clan managers would be more reliable.
• Yan Xuewei confronted Huo Tianling at Clear Wind Valley and asked whether she knew Yang Xiusheng.
• Huo Tianling denied knowing Yang Xiusheng and left, while Yan Xuewei took her reaction as confirmation that Huo Tianling had arranged the raid.
• Huo Tianling inferred that Yang Xiusheng had died and decided she needed to focus on dealing with Yan Xuewei instead of troubling the Li Clan.

Li Qianqing negotiated with Zhao Zongyong over the management rights of Xiangshui Prefecture’s five small cultivator markets. The Li Clan insisted on giving the Zhao Country Royal Family only ten percent of the income, and Zhao Zongyong ended the chapter revealing his clan’s minimum demand was fifteen percent.

• Zhao Zongyong visited Changqing Mountain, where Li Qianqing, Li Cunliu, and Li Lilong received him with due respect.
• Li Qianqing explained that the Li Clan’s cultivators had temporarily taken over the Caolong County market after loose cultivators raided it, and pressed Zhao Zongyong to hand over the management rights of all five markets.
• Zhao Zongyong accepted that the royal family would have to surrender management, but proposed taking thirty percent of the markets’ income.
• Li Qianqing and Li Cunliu rejected the proposal and argued that the Li Clan would manage the markets and handle problems for only ten percent.
• After half an hour of negotiation left Zhao Zongyong at a disadvantage, he disclosed that his clan’s bottom line was fifteen percent of the income.

Li Qianqing negotiated with Zhao Zongyong to give the Zhao Country Royal Family fifteen percent of the cultivator market profits, and the Li Family quickly took over the markets. The chapter leaves Li Xingsheng ready to attempt Foundation Establishment after preparing for nearly two years.

• Li Qianqing and the other Li Family cultivators agreed to give Zhao Zongyong fifteen percent of the market profits, and Zhao Zongyong accepted the deal.
• The Li Family replaced the managers of the other cultivator markets in Xiangshui Prefecture and introduced a free first-time service for dealing with suspected Loose Cultivators tracking someone.
• Li Qianqing learned that fewer than ten percent of cultivators objected to the management changes, while most supported them, especially in the Caolong County Cultivator Market.
• Li Xingsheng left his room on Changqing Mountain with Shu Shu on his shoulder, feeling ready to attempt Foundation Establishment after absorbing Li Qianqing's guidance.