Chapter Summaries

Li Xiuchang and his companions encountered a seemingly harmless wandering corpse in the Immortal Shade, only to discover it possessed terrifying strength when it saved them from a powerful demonic beast. The group joked about their new protector but chose not to follow it, wary of its unpredictable nature.

• Ye Zhixing explained that wandering corpses retained their cultivation and abilities, and the group encountered a Qi Condensation, eighth-layer wandering corpse with a long scar across its face.
• The group let the wandering corpse follow Li Xiuchang’s flying boat, jokingly calling it their mascot as they gathered spirit plants and medicine.
• After noticing the spirit medicine becoming more abundant and higher-grade, the group turned back, and the wandering corpse suddenly left them.
• A powerful Lion-Tiger Great Demon attacked and began pulling Li Xiuchang and the others toward its mouth.
• The wandering corpse returned, killed the Lion-Tiger Great Demon with a single strike, swallowed its Demonic Core, and flew away.
• Yue Chongshan, Li Xiuchang, and Chen Gao jokingly called the wandering corpse Brother Scar, Senior Scar, and Old Ancestor Scar, but the group decided not to follow it.

Li Xiuchang and the others returned to the underground palace and followed Fate's guidance into a strange forest, while elders from the four great immortal sects planned a search for their missing disciples. The group encountered eighteen dark-red monks and a pursuing Fat Daoist, forcing Li Xiuchang to flee by flying boat.

• Li Xiuchang and the others divided up Old Ancestor Scar's Great Demon corpse, then returned to the underground palace and entered the strange forest.
• At Nine Peaks Temple, Elder Xu and the other sect elders planned separate searches of the Immortal Shade Realm while preparing the Teleportation Array, and Elder Liu set out to search again despite her injuries.
• A Fat Daoist found the underground palace's missing doors, studied the damaged doorway, and entered the strange forest after sensing the others' trail.
• Li Xiuchang and the others encountered eighteen dark-red monks, so Chen Gao tested their attacks and urged the group to retreat.
• The Fat Daoist approached from behind as the monks pressed from ahead, and Li Xiuchang turned the flying boat toward the only open direction and activated Escape Mode.

Li Xiuchang and his companions fled pursuers in his flying boat, but the Eighteen Arhats used a Buddhist divine ability to drag them back and force a battle. After his companions entered the Beast Taming Bag, Li Xiuchang was left alone against six Blood Monks and revealed that he was ready to cut loose.

• Li Xiuchang pushed his flying boat to its limit, but the Fat Daoist caught up after the Eighteen Arhats stopped chasing them.
• The Eighteen Arhats used a joint technique resembling Buddha Kingdom in Palm to return Li Xiuchang and the Fat Daoist to their original location.
• Li Xiuchang put away the flying boat, and he and his companions fought the Blood Monks while the Fat Daoist faced the others.
• As their defensive trump cards ran low, Li Xiuchang sent the six Sword Seeking Sect disciples, Chen Gao, and Yue Chongshan into the Beast Taming Bag.
• Left alone to face six Blood Monks, Li Xiuchang secretly rejoiced that he could finally cut loose.

Li Xiuchang unleashed the Abacus Magic Treasure and annihilated the Fat Daoist and the Eighteen Bald Donkeys with a devastating sound-wave attack. As he surveyed the destruction, a Blood Jade Tree emerged and began producing eighteen new monks, leaving his victory uncertain.

• Li Xiuchang used the Heart-Protecting Mirror and Vajra Dharma Image, then fought the Blood Monks with two door panels while discovering they could regenerate after being destroyed.
• When Li Xiuchang tried to retreat, the Fat Daoist attacked him with a blood-colored spear, pushing his remaining defenses close to breaking.
• Li Xiuchang activated the Abacus Magic Treasure by moving its single movable bead, unleashing sound waves that obliterated the forest, the Eighteen Bald Donkeys, and the Fat Daoist.
• A Blood Jade Tree grew from the devastated ground and produced eighteen dark-red monks from a pool of blood.

Senior Brother Gui rescued Li Xiuchang from the Blood Bodhi Tree’s Blood Monks and explained the tree’s origins and connection to Nine Peaks Temple. After Li Xiuchang questioned the Fat Daoist’s resentful soul about the Demon Sealing Land, the Blood Bodhi formed a giant Buddha, which Senior Brother Gui’s summoned ape crushed.

• Senior Brother Gui arrived, took Li Xiuchang’s abacus, and killed all eighteen Blood Monks with a flick of its beads.
• Senior Brother Gui explained how Nine Peaks Temple’s Blood Bodhi Tree had merged with the resentful souls of eighteen Buddhist Cultivators and become hostile to living creatures.
• Li Xiuchang learned from the Fat Daoist’s resentful soul that the Blood Flower Sect leader knew the Demon Sealing Land’s exact location and that the Fat Daoist had carried tokens to secure the other Demonic Path factions’ trust.
• Senior Brother Gui explained that a former Nine Peaks Temple abbot known as the Blood Buddha had likely revealed the temple’s Teleportation Array to the Blood Demonic Path.
• The Blood Bodhi Tree formed its eighteen Blood Monks into a gigantic Buddha, and Senior Brother Gui summoned a giant golden-furred ape that crushed it.

Senior Brother Gui revealed his Mind Monkey and Will Horse secret technique, gave Li Xiuchang a Blood Bodhi Fruit, and flew him out of Xianyin. On the way, they found an unconscious man whom Senior Brother Gui identified as having been stunned by Li Xiuchang.

• Senior Brother Gui explained how he turned his restless mind and unruly desires into the summoned Mind Monkey and Will Horse, then gave Li Xiuchang the secret technique.
• Li Xiuchang received the Mind Monkey Will Horse Subdues Buddha Scripture and committed it to memory for later practice.
• Senior Brother Gui demanded compensation from the Blood Bodhi Tree and took three fruits, giving one to Li Xiuchang to aid his future blood refinement.
• Senior Brother Gui summoned his white Will Horse and carried Li Xiuchang toward the exit of Xianyin.
• Senior Brother Gui stopped when they found an unconscious, high-cultivation man, and wrote that Li Xiuchang had stunned him.

Li Xiuchang led the disciples out of the Immortal Shade with the unconscious Elder Wu, claiming Old Ancestor Scar had defeated their pursuers. After the group reunited with the sect elders, they learned Elder Wu had been knocked unconscious by a mysterious sonic attack, while the other three elders were still missing inside.

• Senior Brother Gui identified the unconscious man’s Great Seal and instructed Li Xiuchang to carry him toward the exit while he escorted them in secret.
• Li Xiuchang released the eight trapped disciples, and Yue Chongshan recognized the unconscious man as Elder Wu of the Seal Heaven Sect.
• Li Xiuchang told the group that Old Ancestor Scar had slain the Eighteen Bald Donkeys and destroyed the Fat Daoist’s Primordial Spirit with a sonic attack.
• The group reached the boundary of the Immortal Shade without further trouble and reunited with the waiting elders outside.
• Li Xiuchang released Elder Wu, who awoke and recalled being struck unconscious by a tremendous noise; the sect elders then worried about the other three missing elders and planned to contact them.

After escaping the underground palace, Li Xiuchang proposed a trading alliance with the other survivors and named it the Four Immortals Merchant Alliance. He then recounted their expedition to the elders, who identified the Lion-Tiger Great Demon as a seventh-tier beast and suspected Old Ancestor Scar might be a lost Sword Seeking Sect senior.

• Li Xiuchang shared his second-tier Smoked Spirit Meat with the other survivors, and they discussed using Ye Zhixing's family transport channels to sell it and Li Xiuchang's other goods.
• Li Xiuchang and the others agreed to form a commercial alliance, settled on wholesale sales and transport arrangements, and named it the Four Immortals Merchant Alliance.
• After resting at the Nine Peaks Temple ruins, Li Xiuchang and the other survivors were summoned to report their findings to the elders of the Four Great Immortal Sects.
• Li Xiuchang described their journey through the underground palace, showed the elders two Buddhist Corpses, and revealed the Lion-Tiger Great Demon's corpse.
• The elders identified the demon as a seventh-tier Great Demon and speculated that Old Ancestor Scar might be a lost senior of the Sword Seeking Sect.

Li Xiuchang returned from Immortal Shade with the location of the Demon Sealing Land and a rich haul, while the elders planned cooperation among the four sects. Back at the Immortal Dust Sect, he completed his mission, secured a large reward, and began sorting through his treasures.

• Li Xiuchang described how Old Ancestor Scar had rescued the group, and the elders speculated that Scar might be a lost Mahayana ancestor of the Sword Seeking Sect.
• Li Xiuchang revealed that the Demon Sealing Land was somewhere at Ox Horn Ridge, prompting the four sects’ elders to plan a joint search and regular exchanges.
• The disciples divided the Lion-Tiger Great Demon corpse, and Li Xiuchang received thirty percent of its body and bones.
• Li Xiuchang returned the elders’ protective treasures but secretly kept an unused Eighth-Tier Protective Talisman, then confirmed that his mission rewards would be granted.
• Li Xiuchang submitted the mission at the Immortal Dust Sect and received Contribution Points worth tens of thousands of spirit stones.
• Li Xiuchang returned to his courtyard and began sorting the treasures he had collected on the trip.

After returning from the Immortal Shade, Li Xiuchang sorted through his gains and failed to summon a Mind Monkey or Will Horse. With Zhang Wanzhi and Mo Tu's advice, he noticed the summoning art briefly strengthened his body, leaving him to suspect a connection to the Vajra Dharma Image.

• Li Xiuchang returned to Eastern Geng District No. 18, released Su Qingchun's Yin Soul, and gave him Scholar Tang's original manuscripts to read.
• Li Xiuchang assessed the Buddhist Corpses, door panels, Blood Bodhi Fruit, great demon corpse, protective talisman, and Mind Monkey and Will Horse Summoning Art he had brought back.
• Li Xiuchang repeatedly tried and failed to summon a Mind Monkey or Will Horse, then went to find Zhang Wanzhi and discovered he was visiting Mo Tu.
• Li Xiuchang told Zhang Wanzhi and Mo Tu about his trip to the Immortal Shade and asked why he could not summon anything.
• Zhang Wanzhi and Mo Tu explained that a successful summoning should consume substantial magical power, then advised Li Xiuchang to observe changes in his body and mind.
• Li Xiuchang noticed that using the summoning art briefly increased his physical strength, then wondered whether it was connected to the Vajra Dharma Image.

Li Xiuchang asked Zhang Wanzhi to forge his Buddha Heart Steel into a cleaver and light-armor blanks, then tested his Vajra Dharma Image and discovered his Mind Monkey and Will Horse summons changed its form and abilities. He left excited by the prospect of gaining three different transformation forms as his Body Cultivation advanced.

• Li Xiuchang learned from Zhang Wanzhi that his door panels were Sixth-Tier Buddha Heart Steel, unsuitable for a heavy Great Seal but useful for lightweight weapons and armor.
• Li Xiuchang asked Zhang Wanzhi to forge a cleaver and armor blanks, and Zhang agreed to use one door panel and materials from a Seventh-Tier great demon.
• Li Xiuchang decided to preserve the Blood Bodhi Fruit and consume it in portions rather than refine it into a pill.
• Li Xiuchang went to his medicinal field and found that summoning the Mind Monkey turned his Vajra Dharma Image into a Golden Fur Ape that increased his strength.
• Li Xiuchang found that summoning the Will Horse changed the Dharma Image into a white horse and increased his speed, leading him to imagine gaining three transformation forms at higher tiers.

Li Xiuchang restarted his smoked spirit meat business with Wang Long and a workforce of ghosts, then collected his sect mission rewards. He received a hundred-year right to an Earth-grade Medicine Field and chose Golden Halberd Unicorn Beetle eggs, leaving the sect to arrange male eggs and refine two Buddhist Corpses into puppets.

• Li Xiuchang and Wang Long organized production and sales of smoked spirit meat, with ghosts tending the furnaces and Wang Long managing supplies and local sales.
• Li Xiuchang arranged for the Four Immortals Merchant Alliance to distribute smoked meat to the other three Great Immortal Sects while Wang Long sold it at the Immortal Dust Sect Market.
• Li Xiuchang sent the first batch of smoked meat to the alliance members through the Ye family's escort agency and began selling the new grades locally.
• Elder Xu gave Li Xiuchang a hundred-year usage right to an Earth-grade Medicine Field as his mission reward.
• Li Xiuchang selected Golden Halberd Unicorn Beetle eggs and asked Elder Xu to secure male ones; Elder Xu agreed to discuss it with the Beast Taming Grandmaster.
• Elder Xu took Li Xiuchang's two Buddhist Corpses to have them refined into Fourth-grade puppets.

Li Xiuchang expanded his spirit-flower business, shared incomplete poems from his past life with Su Qingchun, and registered as a Guest Alchemist Master at Danxiang Tower. Su Qingchun mistakenly believed Zhao Yuansi had written the poems, while Li Xiuchang headed to Zhao Manor to return the Confucian works.

• Elder Xu warned Li Xiuchang not to tell Zhao Yuansi that he had entered the Immortal Shade, and Li Xiuchang agreed.
• Li Xiuchang bought seeds, planted his Earth-grade Medicine Field, and secured an order from Senior Brother Chu Ya for Heartwarming Orchids and Blazing Lilies.
• Li Xiuchang gave Su Qingchun incomplete poems and lyrics, which strengthened Su Qingchun's Righteous Qi and left him desperate to learn the missing lines.
• Su Qingchun concluded that Zhao Yuansi must have composed the poems and wished to study under him.
• Li Xiuchang registered as a Guest Alchemist Master at Danxiang Tower, received a communication token from Shopkeeper Zhao, and then flew toward Zhao Manor.

Li Xiuchang explained why he had borrowed Zhao Yuansi’s books, then collected two refined Fourth-grade puppets and a male Golden Halberd Unicorn Beetle Egg from Elder Xu. He enlarged and buried the egg in his medicine field, then prepared to break through to Third-grade Body Cultivation while monitoring it.

• Li Xiuchang admitted he had not read Zhao Yuansi’s books and told him about Su Qingchun, so Zhao Yuansi invited Su Qingchun to borrow books from his study.
• Li Xiuchang told Su Qingchun about Zhao Yuansi’s invitation, and Su Qingchun was delighted at the prospect of meeting him.
• Elder Xu gave Li Xiuchang a male Golden Halberd Unicorn Beetle Egg and two Buddhist Corpses refined into Fourth-grade puppets.
• Li Xiuchang added three inches of length to the egg, buried it in his Earth-grade Medicine Field, and decided to let it hatch naturally.
• After reaching Peak Second Tier Body Cultivation, Li Xiuchang released his Vajra Dharma Image and prepared to force a breakthrough to Third-grade Body Cultivation.

Li Xiuchang advanced to Third-grade Body Cultivation, tested the powers of his Dharma Image forms, and prepared to pursue core formation while refining Blood Bodhi Fruit. As he arranged to bring Su Qingchun to meet Zhao Yuansi, he discovered that Tang Yan had died and become a Second Tier Yin Soul.

• Li Xiuchang experimented with adding length to the Will Horse Dharma Image, then strengthened his Vajra Dharma Image and spent three inches of length to break through to Third-grade Body Cultivation.
• Li Xiuchang crushed a Blood Bodhi Fruit into fruit mud and used it to begin refining his blood, then assessed his new strength and tested borrowing power from the Mind Monkey, Will Horse, and Vajra Dharma Images.
• Li Xiuchang studied core formation and Beast Taming at the Preaching Ranking while monitoring the Golden Halberd Unicorn Beetle Egg and maintaining his Yin Souls.
• Zhao Yuansi urged Li Xiuchang to visit and bring Su Qingchun, so Li Xiuchang agreed to go the next day and told Su Qingchun he could stop working that night.
• Li Xiuchang discovered that Tang Yan had died inside the Beast Taming Bag and become a Second Tier Yin Soul, then decided he could replace Su Qingchun on the night shift.

Li Xiuchang introduced Su Qingchun to Zhao Yuansi, and the two scholars bonded over Confucian culture and the severed roots of the Confucian Path. As Li Xiuchang prepared to form his Golden Core, he discovered an ancient method called the Thirty-Six Transformations of the Golden Core and decided to cultivate it.

• Li Xiuchang brought Su Qingchun to Zhao Yuansi, where the two exchanged knowledge about Confucian culture and earned each other's respect.
• Zhao Yuansi explained that the Confucian Path's inheritance remained but had become impossible to cultivate, though he did not know why its roots had been severed.
• Zhao Yuansi invited Su Qingchun to browse his books, and Li Xiuchang left after warning him not to mention the poems Li Xiuchang had copied.
• Li Xiuchang reviewed the Golden Core formation process and judged that his solid cultivation energy, reserves, and Second Dantian made him well prepared.
• Li Xiuchang found the ancient Thirty-Six Transformations of the Golden Core on the Preaching Ranking and vowed to become its second successful cultivator.

Li Xiuchang studied the dangerous Thirty-Six Transformations of the Golden Core method while continuing to cultivate and manage his businesses. After receiving his newly forged Bone Slicing Saber and Undying Armor, he went looking for a demon to test them and found two Golden Core cultivators arguing over a demon cave.

• Li Xiuchang learned that the Thirty-Six Transformations could produce a Tenth Grade Golden Core but risked shattering the core, and he planned to consider it when he was ready to form one.
• Li Xiuchang kept accumulating magical power, tending his businesses and spirit creatures, while the Four Immortals Merchant Alliance expanded its sales.
• Zhang Wanzhi gave Li Xiuchang a crude kitchen-knife weapon and armor, which Li Xiuchang named the Bone Slicing Saber and Undying Armor.
• Li Xiuchang visited the New Demonic Path village, harvested Spirit Medicine and ores, and removed the Malevolent Energy from the miner Wolf Souls.
• Li Xiuchang captured a harmless Second-Tier black bear spirit, learned of a Third-Tier Four-legged Snake that secretly committed evil, and headed for its cave.
• Li Xiuchang found two Golden Core cultivators disputing who had the right to slay the demon and proposed that they give it to him.

Li Xiuchang intervened in Liang Zaiping and Hong Yi’s dispute over a third-grade demon beast, then entered its cave to test his battle skills. He discovered the Lizard spirit had disguised itself as a young woman and cornered it after his Fourth-grade puppet blocked its escape.

• Li Xiuchang persuaded Liang Zaiping and Hong Yi to share the demon beast’s spoils and let him handle it, revealing his Fourth-grade puppet to reassure them.
• Li Xiuchang entered the cave, sent Fan Liang and Tang Yan ahead to scout, and found a Lizard spirit and a young woman inside.
• The young woman slipped past Li Xiuchang, who kicked the apparent lizard and exposed it as an illusion created by the Lizard spirit.
• The disguised Lizard spirit ran into Li Xiuchang’s puppet and returned to the cavern, where it tried to distract him by exposing its chest.
• Li Xiuchang ignored the spirit’s attempt to unsettle him and raised his kitchen knife to attack.

Li Xiuchang defeated a Third Tier Lizard spirit, claimed its Illusion Skin, and shared the creature’s remains with Hong Yi and Liang Zaiping. After learning about the Four Great Immortal Sects’ exchange events, he parted ways with the two cultivators.

• Li Xiuchang tested his new equipment against the Lizard spirit, then wounded it with the Bone Slicing Saber and killed it after it tried to deceive him with a false offer.
• Li Xiuchang took the Lizard spirit’s Demonic Core and Illusion Skin, then brought its corpse out to Hong Yi and Liang Zaiping.
• Hong Yi and Liang Zaiping praised Li Xiuchang’s strength, and the three divided the corpse while Li Xiuchang declined his share.
• Liang Zaiping and Hong Yi explained that the sects were encouraging cross-region training and described upcoming exchange tournaments for Golden Core and Foundation Establishment disciples.
• Li Xiuchang exchanged contact information with Hong Yi and Liang Zaiping before the three parted ways.

Su Qingchun discovered that Zhao Yuansi’s poetry was poor and suspected Li Xiuchang had written the famous poems instead. Li Xiuchang’s Golden Halberd Unicorn Beetle hatched, and he asked Zhang Wanzhi to teach him artifact refining; Zhang directed him to learn the basics at the Library Pavilion.

• Su Qingchun found Zhao Yuansi’s hidden poetry collection and concluded that Li Xiuchang had likely written the poems Zhao was credited with.
• Li Xiuchang discovered that his Golden Halberd Unicorn Beetle Egg had hatched after consuming thousands of spirit stones, then moved the larva into fermented Spirit Wood sawdust.
• Li Xiuchang asked Zhang Wanzhi to teach him artifact refining, and Zhang told him to study an introductory inheritance and practice forging iron first.
• Zhang Wanzhi identified Li Xiuchang’s Illusion Skin as a high-quality, roughly fifth-tier hide from the Phantom Viper Tribe and explained that it needed to be refined into a magical treasure for a cultivator to use.