Chapter Summaries

Li Qianqing tested Zuoqiu Lipeng’s strength and redirected him toward Li Xunting, who agreed to give him a chance if he could defeat her. Their duel began near Changqing Mountain as Li Clan cultivators gathered to watch.

• Li Qianqing took Zuoqiu Lipeng away from Changqing Mountain and demonstrated his strength, easily breaking Zuoqiu Lipeng’s defense while holding back.
• Li Qianqing brought Zuoqiu Lipeng to Li Xunting, who said she would give him a chance if he defeated her.
• Zuoqiu Lipeng immediately accepted Li Xunting’s challenge, and Li Qianqing arranged for their duel to take place near Changqing Mountain.
• Li Qianqing, Li Xunting, and Zuoqiu Lipeng hovered in the air as Li Clan cultivators gathered below to watch the duel.

Li Xunting defeated Zuoqiu Lipeng in a spell battle, then assured him that he could still win her favor by defeating her in the future. After Zuoqiu returned to Clear Wind Valley, Li Qianqing learned that Zhao Country’s royal family had sent covert Qi Refining cultivators to gather intelligence, and Li Qiuben arrived while Li Qianqing was cultivating.

• Li Xunting used increasingly powerful ice spirit arts to keep Zuoqiu Lipeng on the defensive until Li Qianqing stopped the battle to prevent Zuoqiu from damaging his meridians.
• Zuoqiu Lipeng believed his defeat had ended his chances with Li Xunting, but Li Xunting told him he could still succeed if he defeated her in a future spell battle.
• Zuoqiu Lipeng shared information about Clear Wind Valley with Li Qianqing before leaving Changqing Mountain, determined to improve his strength.
• More than a year later, Li Qianqing heard that Zhao Country’s royal family had sent concealed Qi Refining cultivators to Xiangshui Prefecture to investigate the Li clan.
• Li Qiuben visited Li Qianqing, who asked whether he was prepared to form his core.

Li Qiuben began his attempt to form a core while Clear Wind Valley’s leaders debated how to respond to the Li Clan’s growing strength. The meeting ended with the valley agreeing to support the Li Clan if the Zhao Country Royal Family moved against it.

• Li Qiuben entered seclusion with the Mystic Talisman Wood and began forming his core.
• At a Clear Wind Valley meeting, the Second Elder warned that the Li Clan’s growth could threaten the valley and proposed suppressing it.
• Zuoqiu Lipeng rejected the proposal, defended the Li Clan, and accused the Second Elder of accepting benefits from the Zhao Country Royal Family.
• Yan Xuewei argued that the Li Clan could help keep the Zhao Country Royal Family in check and proposed aiding it if it faced suppression.
• The Grand Elder supported the argument that the Li Clan could restrain the royal family, and Yan Xuewei settled the meeting’s decision to help the Li Clan if needed.
• Afterward, the Grand Elder told the Second Elder that the Li Clan had built a strong reputation, which had helped it win support from local forces during the war.

Li Qiuben successfully formed his core, causing spiritual medicines across Changqing Mountain to grow faster and producing a thundercloud phenomenon. The Li Clan celebrated gaining a fourth Core Formation elder as Li Qianqing and Li Xunting welcomed Qiuben, who planned to focus on spiritual medicines and improve his cultivation.

• The First Elder told the Second Elder that the Li Clan’s rapid growth came from its approach to subordinate forces and the strength Li Qianqing brought to the family.
• Li Clan cultivators on Changqing Mountain noticed spiritual medicines growing faster, especially near the ancestral land, and could not explain the change.
• Li Qianqing sensed life-force power spilling outward and concluded that Li Qiuben had successfully formed his core; Li Xunting reached the same conclusion.
• Thunderclouds appeared over Changqing Mountain as Li Qiuben’s Core Formation phenomenon began, and Li Clan cultivators realized their family had gained another Core Formation elder.
• Li Qiuben opened his eyes after the phenomenon ended, then told Li Qianqing and Li Xunting that his Core Formation had succeeded and set a goal of reaching the peak of Mid-Stage Core Formation within two hundred years.
• Li Xunting offered to spar with Li Qiuben, but he showed little interest, and he spent a long time discussing spiritual medicines with Li Qianqing.

News that Li Qiuben had formed his core made the Li Clan the first Core Formation cultivation clan in Zhao Country with four Core Formation Cultivators. Zhao Wengang convened an emergency meeting of the Zhao Country Royal Family, where its leaders considered how to respond and whether Clear Wind Valley would cooperate against the Li Clan.

• Cultivators in Tongyang County spread the news that Li Qiuben had formed his core, while a Zhao Country Royal Family spy sent the report to Zhao Tiandong.
• Zhao Tiandong informed Zhao Wengang that Li Qiuben’s rapid rise seemed inconsistent with the royal family’s records of him.
• Zhao Wengang called an emergency meeting, and nine Core Formation Cultivators of the Zhao Country Royal Family gathered, including Zhao Longyin.
• Zhao Wengang confirmed Li Qiuben’s breakthrough, prompting the royal family cultivators to discuss the Li Clan’s growing strength and its position under Clear Wind Valley.
• Zhao Wuming argued that Clear Wind Valley should approach the royal family to discuss suppressing the Li Clan, but the meeting considered waiting before contacting them again.

The Li Clan’s fourth Core Formation cultivator, Li Qiuben, prompted the Zhao Country Royal Family to seek a pretext for action while other clans weighed how to respond. At Li Qiuben’s Core Formation Banquet, Shen Xingyuan arrived with a generous gift despite not being invited, and Zuoqiu Lipeng came from Clear Wind Valley as the celebrations began.

• Ancestor Zhao Longyin decided the Zhao Country Royal Family needed a proper reason to move against the Li Clan and ordered Zhao Wengang to attend Li Qiuben’s Core Formation Banquet.
• The Shen Clan Ancestor praised the clan’s past decision to seek peace with the Li Clan and told Shen Xingyuan to attend the banquet with a generous gift.
• The news of Li Qiuben’s core formation spread across Zhao Country, while the Feng Yong Yu Clan welcomed the shift in the Zhao Country Royal Family’s attention away from them.
• Shen Xingyuan arrived uninvited at Changqing Mountain and presented Li Xunchen with a sealed jade box as the Shen Clan’s gift.
• Zuoqiu Lipeng arrived early on behalf of Clear Wind Valley, offered congratulations, and was escorted up the mountain by Li Xunchen.

At Li Qiuben’s Core Formation banquet, Li Xunchen openly challenged Zhao Wengang’s claim to be a guest, and Li Qianqing’s presence unnerved the royal-family cultivator. Zhao Wengang then tested Zuoqiu Lipeng about Clear Wind Valley’s attendance, and Zuoqiu answered aloud, drawing every Core Formation cultivator’s attention.

• Li Xunchen met Zhao Wengang at the foot of Changqing Mountain, mocked the royal family’s small congratulatory gift, and led him up the mountain.
• The gathered cultivators recognized Zhao Wengang as a Core Formation cultivator from the Zhao Country Royal Family and speculated about why he had come.
• Li Qianqing confronted Zhao Wengang, who felt fear from his presence and agreed that not everyone who arrived was necessarily a guest.
• Li Qiuben’s Core Formation banquet began, and the other Core Formation cultivators noticed that he spoke very little.
• Zhao Wengang used spiritual-power voice transmission to ask Zuoqiu Lipeng why he had attended, but Li Qianqing noticed and Zuoqiu answered aloud, asking whether Zhao had an objection.

At Li Qiuben’s Core Formation banquet, Zhao Wengang failed to pressure the Li Clan and left feeling frustrated, while Fang Mingchang suggested he seek support from Clear Wind Valley’s Second Elder. After the banquet, Zuoqiu Lipeng remained on Changqing Mountain, where Li Xunting asked him to duel and he changed his mind after she seemed unhappy.

• Zhao Wengang denied having any opinion of Zuoqiu Lipeng after Zuoqiu called him out for using spiritual-energy voice transmission.
• The banquet ended smoothly, and Zhao Wengang left Changqing Mountain before Fang Mingchang caught up with him two hundred li away.
• Fang Mingchang denied that his family had designs on the Li Clan and advised Zhao Wengang to approach Clear Wind Valley’s Second Elder about suppressing the Li Clan.
• Li Xunting asked Zuoqiu Lipeng to duel, but he refused because he expected to lose badly.
• After Li Qianqing praised Zuoqiu Lipeng for his conduct toward Zhao Wengang, Zuoqiu mistook Li Xunting’s unhappiness for displeasure at his refusal and accepted her duel proposal.

Li Qianqing reflected on the Zhao royal family’s threat and watched its plans to seek Clear Wind Valley’s cooperation take shape. He then said goodbye to Li Qianyin as she entered Death Seclusion, while she expressed confidence that he would lead the Li Clan to become the strongest clan in the Mortal Expanse Realm.

• After Li Xunting defeated Zuoqiu Lipeng in a duel, Li Qianqing teased her about leaving him room to fight back, and she insisted Zuoqiu Lipeng would keep coming.
• Zhao Wengang told Zhao Wuming that Li Qianqing likely had Late Stage Core Formation strength and advised approaching Clear Wind Valley’s Second Elder He Shiping through the Xiayong Fang Clan connection.
• Zhao Wuming volunteered to seek cooperation with He Shiping when the time was right, and Zhao Wengang agreed that he should first seek the Ancestor’s instructions.
• Li Qianyin told Li Qianqing that she would enter Death Seclusion, and they discussed her artifact-refining legacy, the family’s growth, and their hopes for the Li Clan’s future.
• Li Qianqing agreed to escort Li Qianyin to her seclusion place after she said she believed he would lead the Li Clan to become the strongest cultivation clan in the Mortal Expanse Realm.

Zhao Tiandong set his plan in motion by arranging for Zhao Yuanjing to be injured in a staged disturbance at Tongyang County Cultivator Market, but Zhao Yuanjing was killed instead. Zhao Tiandong arrived and confronted the cultivators below, demanding to know what had happened to his grandson.

• Zhao Tiandong learned from Zhao Wengang that nothing had come of the Li Qiuben banquet and decided to create conditions for his plan himself.
• Zhao Yuanjing followed Zhao Tiandong’s plan and entered a staged disturbance at Tongyang County Cultivator Market, expecting to be injured.
• The attacking Loose Cultivator unexpectedly killed Zhao Yuanjing with a powerful flying blade, then self-destructed as Li Changfeng tried to capture him.
• Li Changfeng protected the surrounding cultivators with his golden gong and examined Zhao Yuanjing’s unfamiliar corpse.
• Zhao Tiandong appeared in the sky and demanded to know what the cultivators had done to his grandson.

Li Changfeng reported the Zhao Country Royal Family’s staged incident at Tongyang County Cultivator Market to Li Qianqing, who planned to spread the news and prepare for a response. Back in Huangmin Prefecture, Zhao Wengang confronted Zhao Tiandong for sacrificing Zhao Yuanjing and sent him to Contemplation Cliff for three years.

• A shifty-eyed cultivator abandoned Zhao Yuanjing’s corpse when Zhao Tiandong appeared, and Li Changfeng told Zhao Tiandong that the Li Clan had killed the culprit.
• Zhao Tiandong took Zhao Yuanjing’s corpse away, while cultivators at the market suspected the Zhao Country Royal Family had staged the incident to target the Li Clan.
• Li Changfeng reported the events to Li Qianqing, who praised his handling of the corpse and decided the Li Clan should spread its account quickly.
• Zhao Wengang accused Zhao Tiandong of using a Zhao family cultivator’s life in his plan and rejected Zhao Tiandong’s claim that he had done the right thing.
• Zhao Wengang ordered Zhao Tiandong to spend three years at Contemplation Cliff without outside communication.

Zhao Wuming failed to persuade Clear Wind Valley to help the Zhao Country Royal Family suppress the Li Clan, and he and Zhao Wengang suspected the Valley Master's ties to Li Qianqing were personal as well as political. They chose to spread accusations about the deaths at Tongyang County Cultivator Market, setting up Zhao Wuming to confront the Li Clan as rumors spread.

• Zhao Wengang told Zhao Wuming about Zhao Tiandong's actions, and Zhao Wuming hurried to Clear Wind Valley to seek cooperation against the Li Clan.
• He Shiping refused Zhao Wuming's proposal, explaining that Clear Wind Valley had already decided not to help the Zhao Country Royal Family suppress the Li Clan.
• After Zhao Wuming returned, he suggested Yan Xuewei might be protecting the Li Clan because of her relationship with Li Qianqing, and Zhao Wengang agreed that this could explain Clear Wind Valley's stance.
• Zhao Wengang planned to spread a favorable version of the Tongyang County incident and assigned Zhao Wuming to demand justice at the Li Clan Ancestral Land once the news gained influence.
• Within half a month, two main accounts of the incident circulated: one blamed the Zhao Country Royal Family, while the other accused the Li Clan of failing to save Zhao cultivators who could have been rescued.

Zhao Wuming visited Changqing Mountain to demand an explanation for the royal clansman’s death at the Tongyang County Cultivator Market, but Li Qianqing rejected the accusation and refused to negotiate. Zhao Wuming left without an agreement, leaving the conflict between the Zhao Country Royal Family and the Li Clan unresolved.

• Cultivators across Zhao Country argued over competing accounts of the Tongyang County incident while the Zhao Country Royal Family and the Li Clan made no public move for three months.
• Zhao Wuming arrived at Changqing Mountain and asked to meet Li Qianqing, who received him in the reception hall.
• Zhao Wuming demanded an explanation for the royal clansman who had died at the market, while Li Qianqing accused the royal family of staging the incident as a pretext to target the Li Clan.
• Li Qianqing ended the discussion and told Zhao Wuming to leave, declaring that the royal family was the one opposing the Li Clan.
• Zhao Wuming considered the risk of facing Li Qianqing and two other Core Formation cultivators, then flew away from Changqing Mountain.

Zhao Wuming failed to negotiate with Li Qianqing, and the Zhao Country Royal Family decided to attack the Li Clan within ten years after learning of Li Qiuben’s Special Physique. Meanwhile, Li Qianqing brought the final Micro Spirit Vein to Changqing Mountain to prepare the Li Clan’s first Third-Order High Grade Spiritual Field.

• Zhao Wuming told Zhao Wengang that Li Qianqing had refused to negotiate, and Zhao Wengang concluded that an envoy would not have changed the outcome.
• At a Core Formation-level meeting, Zhao Wuming reported the failed talks while the Zhao Country Royal Family debated whether to attack the Li Clan and how Clear Wind Valley might respond.
• Zhao Longyin received a Sound Transmission Talisman revealing that Li Qiuben had a Special Physique that could increase the Li Clan’s spiritual herb resources.
• Zhao Longyin set the royal family’s direction to attack the Li Clan within ten years and said he would personally go to Changqing Mountain.
• Li Qianqing brought the final Micro Spirit Vein to Changqing Mountain as the Li Clan worked to establish a Third-Order High Grade Spiritual Field.

Over six years, the Li Clan strengthened Changqing Mountain and prepared for an expected attack by the Zhao Country royal family. Li Qianqing sent Li Xunting to protect Li Xunming at Changming Mountain while he awaited the royal family’s forces, and the chapter ended with the royal family’s Core Formation cultivators discussing Clear Wind Valley as a possible obstacle.

• Li Qianqing oversaw the fusion of ten Micro Spirit Veins into a Small Spirit Vein and assigned Li Changgui to adjust the spirit vein nodes and help open a Third-Order High Grade Spiritual Field.
• Li Qianqing learned that the Zhao Country royal family might attack the Li Clan and planned to draw its Core Formation cultivators to Changqing Mountain.
• Six years passed, during which the Li Clan gained one Foundation Establishment cultivator and two Foundation Establishment Seeds, while Li Qianyin died after failing to break through.
• Yan Xuewei warned Li Qianqing that the royal family might act soon and offered Clear Wind Valley’s support.
• Li Qianqing secretly sent Li Xunting to Weishui Prefecture to reinforce Li Xunming at Changming Mountain and told her to wait for the royal family’s cultivators before appearing.
• The Zhao Country royal family’s Core Formation cultivators discussed their plans against the Li Clan and worried that Clear Wind Valley might interfere.

Zhao Longyin organized the Zhao Country Royal Family’s assault on the Li Clan, then led five Core Formation Cultivators to Changqing Mountain. Finding only Li Qianqing and one other Core Formation Cultivator there, he warned the force targeting Weishui Prefecture to watch for reinforcements while the Li Clan prepared to defend its ancestral land.

• Zhao Longyin assigned four Core Formation Cultivators to accompany him to Xiangshui Prefecture, while Zhao Wengang and Zhao Wenyi were sent to Weishui Prefecture to deal with Li Xunming.
• Zhao Longyin outlined the plan to kill the Li Clan’s Core Formation Cultivators, strip the clan of its spirit-vein lands, and gradually reduce its power.
• Li Qianqing sensed five Core Formation Cultivators approaching Changqing Mountain and ordered the clansmen tending fields outside the protective array to return.
• Zhao Longyin arrived at Changqing Mountain and discovered that only two Core Formation Cultivators were there, contrary to the Zhao Country Royal Family’s information.
• Li Qianqing told Li Qiuben to continue tending spirit herbs, while Zhao Longyin sent a message telling Zhao Wengang and Zhao Wenyi to hold off if they encountered two Li Clan Core Formation Cultivators in Weishui Prefecture.

Li Qianqing used his Bewitching Heart secret technique to ambush the Zhao Country Royal Family’s five Core Formation cultivators as they prepared to attack the Li Clan Ancestral Land. After killing four of them, he faced the awakened Peak Core Formation ancestor, Zhao Longyin, and warned him that he would be next.

• Zhao Longyin ordered the Zhao Country Royal Family cultivators to break the Li Clan’s Mountain Protecting Grand Array.
• Li Qianqing put all five Zhao cultivators into an Enter Dream state and killed the three early Core Formation cultivators with flying blades.
• The Mid-Stage Core Formation cultivator awoke in time to block Li Qianqing’s flying blades, but Li Qianqing broke his Purple Pot and killed him with One Flame, River-Severing.
• The dying Mid-Stage cultivator shouted to awaken Zhao Longyin, who recognized Li Qianqing’s Divine Sense Secret Technique and realized four members of his family had died.
• Li Qianqing told Zhao Longyin that four Zhao cultivators had met their end and that Zhao Longyin would be next.

Li Qianqing killed Zhao Longyin and the four other Zhao Country Royal Family Core Formation cultivators at Changqing Mountain, then sent word to Li Xunting that the Weishui Prefecture side could act. Li Xunting and Li Xunming confronted Zhao Wengang and Zhao Wenyi, and the chapter ended as the two pairs began fighting.

• Li Qianqing used Extinguishing Spirit Three Absolutes: First Absolute, Silent Extinction, to destroy Zhao Longyin's divine sense, then took his Storage Ring and burned his body.
• Li Qianqing collected the other four Zhao Country Royal Family cultivators' Storage Rings, burned their corpses, and sent Li Xunting a Sound Transmission Talisman.
• Li Changgui withdrew the Mountain Protecting Grand Array as the Li Clan cultivators discussed Li Qianqing's strength, while Li Qiuben returned to tending spiritual herbs.
• After Zhao Wengang received Zhao Longyin's message, he and Zhao Wenyi debated whether to attack the Li Clan cultivators guarding Weishui Prefecture.
• Li Xunting and Li Xunming confronted Zhao Wengang and Zhao Wenyi, then split into two fights as Li Xunting faced Zhao Wenyi and Li Xunming faced Zhao Wengang.
• Zhao Wenyi unleashed his Skyfire Domain against Li Xunting, who said his divine ability was far weaker than Li Qianqing's.

Li Xunting and Li Xunming defeated the Zhao royal family cultivators sent to delay them, with Xunting killing Zhao Wenyi and Xunming pursuing and killing Zhao Wengang. The chapter then shifted to the Zhao royal family’s ancestral land, where its four remaining Core Formation cultivators gathered after a long wait for their ancestor’s return.

• Li Xunting used powerful ice spirit arts and her Ice Crystal Bow to suppress Zhao Wenyi, while Li Xunming gained the advantage over Zhao Wengang.
• Zhao Wengang told Zhao Wenyi he could no longer hold on, then fled, and Li Xunming pursued him.
• Li Xunting trapped Zhao Wenyi with the Soul Imprisoning Bottle and, after exhausting most of his spiritual power, killed him with an arrow.
• Li Xunming returned and told Li Xunting he had chased Zhao Wengang to New Moon Prefecture and killed him.
• In Huangmin Prefecture, the Zhao royal family’s four remaining Core Formation cultivators gathered after waiting a long time for their ancestor to return.

The Zhao Country Royal Family’s Core Formation cultivators failed to return from their attack on the Li family, and the four cultivators guarding the Zhao ancestral land feared the worst. After Li Qianqing’s message reached Clear Wind Valley and the news spread through Xiangshui Prefecture, the Li family’s power and the royal family’s future came into question.

• The four Zhao Country Royal Family cultivators at the ancestral land sent Sound Transmission Talismans to Zhao Longyin and the six other Core Formation cultivators, but received no replies.
• The four considered whether the Li family had killed all seven cultivators and waited for news from Xiangshui Prefecture.
• Yan Xuewei received Li Qianqing’s message that all the Zhao Country Royal Family cultivators involved in the attack had died.
• Zuoqiu Lipeng came to ask whether the Li family needed support, and Yan Xuewei told him the battle was over and the attackers had all been killed.
• Cultivators in Tongyang County Market spread the news that Li Qianqing had destroyed the Zhao Country Royal Family force, while some questioned whether he had fought alone.