Chapter Summaries

Li Xiuchang flooded the Preaching Ranking with gimmick short stories and reclaimed first place, while his and Zhang Wanzhi’s victories brought them fame at the Immortal Dust Sect. After settling into his new routine, Li Xiuchang claimed the Annual Preaching Ranking reward and prepared to choose posts for an Anointing.

• Li Xiuchang published a barrage of gimmick short stories as “The Longest Man,” drawing readers back and overtaking “Mangy Head Fairy” to secure first place on the Annual Preaching Ranking.
• News spread that Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi had defeated Sword Seeking Sect prodigies, bringing them attention and challengers at the Immortal Dust Sect.
• Chen Changsheng worried Zhang Wanzhi might lead Li Xiuchang astray, and Mo Tu advised him not to suppress young people too harshly.
• Li Xiuchang defeated several inner-sect disciples who challenged him, then hid in the medicinal fields to escape the growing attention.
• Li Xiuchang continued his cultivation, Spirit Chef studies, and other duties until the Annual Preaching Ranking settled.
• Li Xiuchang received first place and an Anointing reward that let him choose two thousand Preaching Posts.

Li Xiuchang carefully chose two thousand Preaching Posts suited to his current abilities so Anointing would teach him as much as possible. He accepted the reward and began receiving the knowledge, which poured into his sea of consciousness as the chapter ended.

• Li Xiuchang ruled out cultivation insights and recipe or blueprint posts, focusing instead on practical experience and realizations related to the Hundred Cultivation Arts.
• He selected posts on Spirit Plant Cultivation Arts, Spirit Chef arts, and soul manipulation, then searched the rankings for artifact-refining knowledge and considered whether Low-key Blacksmith Who Forges Silently was Zhang Wanzhi.
• Li Xiuchang added posts on artifact refining, alchemy, talisman arts, the Array Path, and Immortal Brewing, while recognizing Domineering Arrogant Heaven's technical posts.
• He used his remaining selections on insights about nurturing a Natal Magic Treasure, intending to make a kitchen-knife treasure, and completed his list of two thousand posts.
• Li Xiuchang accepted the Anointing reward and began hearing the selected knowledge enter his sea of consciousness.

After receiving Anointing from the Preaching Ranking, Li Xiuchang mastered knowledge from two thousand Preaching Posts and saw his Length Value soar. He prepared for the Hundred Arts Competition and his Natal Magic Treasure, while Song Yu returned to Immortal Dust Sect from a neglected championship and found everyone talking about Zhang Wanzhi.

• Li Xiuchang experienced Anointing as a dream of practicing many arts, gaining deep mastery and raising his Length Value from just over sixty-two inches to 294.56 inches.
• Li Xiuchang tested his skills and confirmed that four arts had reached the first grade, his Spirit Plant Cultivation Arts had reached the third grade, his alchemy had reached the second tier, and his Spirit Chef and Soul Master skills had greatly improved.
• Li Xiuchang decided to prepare for the Hundred Arts Competition, registered for the second-tier Soul Master assessment, and went to ask Zhang Wanzhi about the primary material for his kitchen-cleaver Natal Magic Treasure.
• Song Yu returned to Immortal Dust Sect after winning the Foundation Establishment exchange tournament, but received little attention because Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi had drawn the limelight.
• Immortal Dust Sect disciples asked Song Yu about Zhang Wanzhi and urged him to bring Chu Ya to spar with him, so Song Yu gave up on expecting a welcome and decided to return and form his Core.

Li Xiuchang visited his senior brothers with spirit dishes, got drunk on Mo Tu’s last jar of wine, and learned that the dog couple was returning. After waking, he asked Zhang Wanzhi for advice on his Natal Magic Treasure and was pointed toward forging a spirit-form kitchen knife with Earth Soul Crystal.

• Li Xiuchang concealed his cultivation and visited Zhang Wanzhi at Mo Tu’s residence, where he shared spirit dishes with Zhang Wanzhi, Mo Tu, and Chen Changsheng.
• Li Xiuchang drank Mo Tu’s strong wine and passed out; Gui Wuyan arrived and wrote that the dog couple was coming back.
• Li Xiuchang woke after eight days, feeling refreshed, and told Zhang Wanzhi he wanted advice on choosing a main material for his Natal Magic Treasure.
• Zhang Wanzhi suggested Li Xiuchang forge a spirit-form kitchen knife to complement his Bone Slicing Saber, then potentially fuse the saber into it later.
• Chen Changsheng told Li Xiuchang that the sect might have Earth Soul Crystal available in exchange for Contribution Points.

Li Xiuchang obtained an Earth Soul Crystal to forge his Natal Kitchen Knife Magic Treasure and sought ways to earn Contribution Points to repay his debt. As he prepared for the Hundred Arts Competition and improved his cultivation, Misty Qi began forming in his Second Dantian.

• Li Xiuchang borrowed eighty thousand Contribution Points from Senior Brother Chu Ya, who exchanged them for an Earth Soul Crystal, and left the crystal and his Bone Slicing Saber with Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi for the magic treasure’s refinement.
• Li Xiuchang asked Senior Brother Yan Song about rewards for the Hundred Arts Competition and his diplomatic mission, and Senior Brother Yan Song agreed to ask the elders about Contribution Points.
• Chen Changsheng offered to accompany Li Xiuchang on sect missions after the competition, while Li Xiuchang successively passed the tier-two Spirit Chef and Soul Master examinations.
• Senior Brother Yan Song secured a promise that Li Xiuchang would receive ten thousand Contribution Points if he won any one of the Hundred Arts Competition’s contests.
• Li Xiuchang mastered switching between Diamond Mana and Charcoal Attribute Mana, and noticed that Misty Qi was slowly forming in his Second Dantian.

Li Xiuchang celebrated the Netherfrost Tree’s abundant, potent Gloomy Chill Flowers and rewarded his yin souls, while secretly preparing to deal with the two demonic cultivator souls. Fan Liang and Tang Yan plotted to use Tang Yan’s hidden yin altar to grow powerful enough to overthrow him, and the chapter ended with Li Xiuchang being summoned to travel to the Hundred Arts Competition.

• Li Xiuchang harvested oversized Gloomy Chill Flowers from the three-zhang Netherfrost Tree and found they were about five times as potent as ordinary flowers.
• Li Xiuchang distributed flowers among his yin souls, gave Su Qingchun remembered poems, and set aside flowers for Fan Liang and Tang Yan.
• Tang Yan offered to reveal a yin altar near Ox Horn Ridge containing ten thousand Fierce Ghosts, while he and Fan Liang secretly planned to use it to advance and enslave Li Xiuchang and Su Qingchun.
• Li Xiuchang learned the altar’s location and decided to investigate it after the Hundred Arts Competition with Senior Brother Chen Changsheng.
• The sect summoned Li Xiuchang and the other competition participants to travel to the Seal Heaven Sect under the elders’ escort.

Li Xiuchang traveled with Chen Changsheng to the Seal Heaven Sect, where he planned to compete in Spirit Chef Arts and claim a reward from Elder Wu for saving his life. A conversation about the sect’s Seal Control Arts led him to realize his two dantians might let him cultivate a second Natal Magic Treasure, and he decided to ask Elder Wu for the Target Locking Seal.

• Li Xiuchang added Ox Horn Ridge to Chen Changsheng’s planned mission route so he could search for Tang Yan’s Yin Altar and take part in the demon-seeking mission.
• After traveling for more than ten days, Li Xiuchang and Chen Changsheng arrived at the Seal Heaven Sect and received a warm welcome from Yue Chongshan and Elder Wu.
• Li Xiuchang chose to enter the Spirit Chef Arts competition and discussed with Chen Changsheng what reward to request from Elder Wu.
• Chen Changsheng explained the Seal Heaven Sect’s Seal Control Arts, including the Target Locking Seal, prompting Li Xiuchang to realize that his two dantians might support two Natal Magic Treasures.
• Li Xiuchang decided to ask Elder Wu for the Target Locking Seal and planned to try adding points to his core pill before the competition.

Li Xiuchang advanced to the Mid Golden Core stage and discovered that his Second Dantian could expand its internal space independently, even successfully lengthening that space. Several days later, the Four Great Immortal Sects’ Hundred Arts Competition began, and he watched the alchemy, artifact refinement, talisman, and Array Path contests unfold.

• Li Xiuchang enlarged his First Diamond Core, reached the Mid Golden Core stage, then enlarged his Second Diamond Core and found that the Second Dantian absorbed the remaining force of heaven and earth.
• Li Xiuchang discovered that the Second Dantian’s interior had expanded and that its space could grow naturally or with cultivation breakthroughs; he successfully added an inch to that space, turning it into an ellipsoid.
• Several days later, Li Xiuchang and Chen Changsheng watched the Hundred Arts Competition begin, starting with the alchemy contest.
• An Ascension Pavilion disciple under thirty revealed herself as a Third-tier Alchemist and won the alchemy championship, while the artifact refinement competition produced no third-tier prodigy.
• More than five hundred participants competed in talisman arts, and an outer disciple from Immortal Dust Sect won the championship after a showdown among three third-tier talisman masters.
• The Array Path competition followed, while the Four Great Immortal Sects decided not to hold a Divination Arts competition because few diviners participated and they were unwilling to risk their lives.

Li Xiuchang advanced through the first round of the Spirit Chef competition by easily cooking a third-tier pepper-fried meat dish. The second round began with contestants drawing ingredient categories, and Li Xiuchang started preparing an innovative fish dish.

• Li Xiuchang chose third-tier ingredients and cooked pepper-fried meat, earning the judges’ approval and advancing to the top ten.
• The chief judge announced that the second round would reward innovation and thorough ingredient utilization, noting the famous but unidentified Spirit Chef from the Immortal Dust Sect.
• Li Xiuchang drew fish as his primary ingredient, while the other contestants drew categories including poultry, beast, shell, and insect.
• After examining a box of fish ranging from first to third tier, Li Xiuchang settled on an idea and began processing the ingredients with striking knife skills.

Li Xiuchang used every part of his fish ingredients to prepare a varied banquet, then unveiled his innovative dish, Gazing at the Stars, whose fish-head portions each had a different effect. The judges praised his cooking and awarded him the competition’s second-round championship by an overwhelming margin.

• Li Xiuchang cooked the large third-tier fish in several ways and made dishes from the other fish and their organs.
• He used the remaining fish heads, Spirit Wheat flour, and side ingredients to bake the striking dish Gazing at the Stars.
• Li Xiuchang explained that each portion had different fillings and effects, then cut the dish into portions for the judges.
• Elder Wu tasted a portion and found that it temporarily improved eyesight; the other judges confirmed that different portions had distinct effects.
• The judges gave Li Xiuchang high scores for his cooking, innovation, and complete use of the ingredients.
• After the other contestants finished, Li Xiuchang won the second round by an overwhelming margin.

Li Xiuchang won the Hundred Arts Competition’s spirit cuisine championship, received the Thousand Jun Stone, and secured permission to learn the Seal Heaven Sect’s Target Locking Seal. As he and Chen Changsheng began traveling onward, Chen Changsheng learned that a prison break had occurred in the Immortal Dust Sect’s Eastern Geng District.

• Li Xiuchang boosted his body-cultivation progress by combining Blood Replenishing Mud with Blood Bodhi Fruit Mud.
• After the competition ended, Li Xiuchang received a fingernail-sized piece of Thousand Jun Stone as his prize.
• Li Xiuchang persuaded Elder Wu to arrange for him to learn the Target Locking Seal and swore not to disclose it.
• Li Xiuchang stayed behind with Chen Changsheng while Elder Xiang led the other Immortal Dust Sect disciples home.
• On the road, Chen Changsheng taught Li Xiuchang to conceal his cultivation and disguise himself, and Li Xiuchang adopted the appearance of a simple-minded youth.
• Chen Changsheng abruptly grew angry after learning that a prison break had occurred in the Immortal Dust Sect’s Eastern Geng District.

Chen Changsheng failed to stop his tortoise Spirit Pet from escaping into Immortal Dust Sect’s inner grounds, where the elders mistook it for a long-missing demon beast. He then continued escorting Li Xiuchang through sect missions, and they reached Moonfall Oasis, where they would have to challenge someone to obtain fresh spring water without waiting months.

• The little tortoise escaped its cage with a clone as a decoy, and Chen Changsheng pursued its true body toward the sect’s inner grounds before elders detected a breach in the Sect Protecting Great Array.
• The elders recalled a suspected demon beast that had caused trouble more than two hundred years earlier and ordered the sect’s formations reinforced.
• Chen Changsheng and Li Xiuchang continued their journey, completing missions at several locations before arriving at Moonfall Oasis.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Moonfall Spring’s water at moonset could improve soil quality and warned Li Xiuchang that they might have to fight for it.
• A bald cultivator told Chen Changsheng and Li Xiuchang to join the long queue or challenge someone ahead of them for a place.

Li Xiuchang and Senior Brother Chen Changsheng collected Moonfall Spring water after Chen staged a drawn-out duel to claim the front of the queue. Pu Hua then invited Chen to help explore a ruin, but Chen refused, citing the danger to Li Xiuchang.

• Senior Brother Chen Changsheng waited until the two Golden Core Stage cultivators had left before challenging the short cultivator at the front of the line.
• Senior Brother Chen Changsheng put on a prolonged, seemingly close fight, won the challenge, and collected the spring water for Li Xiuchang.
• Senior Brother Chen Changsheng explained that he hid his strength to avoid attracting suspicion and preserve room to respond to danger.
• Pu Hua approached Senior Brother Chen Changsheng and described a cave abode ruin with a damaged Fourth-tier Formation that he believed had belonged to a Nascent Soul True Lord.
• Li Xiuchang urged Senior Brother Chen Changsheng to investigate the ruin, but Chen refused, saying he could not risk the Holy Son's safety.

Pu Hua led Li Xiuchang, Chen Changsheng, and a group of cultivators to a hidden cave abode in the desert, where a Flame Puppet emerged before a damaged formation. As Li Xiuchang and the others attacked it, Pu Hua, Ni, and the two Formation Masters trapped them in a cage and called for Chen Changsheng and Li Xiuchang to come out.

• Pu Hua recruited Chen Changsheng and Li Xiuchang for a cave-abode expedition and arranged shares of any spoils for the group.
• After Ni returned from Moonfall Spring, Pu Hua led the cultivators into the desert and revealed the cave abode beneath the quicksand.
• The group entered the ruins and reached a gateway blocked by a damaged Fourth-tier Formation, which two Formation Masters tried to break.
• A Flame Puppet emerged, and the cultivators attacked it after the Formation Masters urged them to destroy it.
• The two Formation Masters activated concealed formations that trapped the attackers, while Pu Hua and Ni withdrew beyond the cage and called for Chen Changsheng and Li Xiuchang to come out.

Chen Changsheng and Li Xiuchang learned that Pu Hua and Bald Monk Ni had lured them to a cave dwelling to avenge their slain elder brother and break its demonic formation. When hostile reinforcements arrived, Chen blocked the corridor with a formation and Li Xiuchang swiftly subdued the three trapped cultivators, revealing their hidden strength.

• Pu Hua explained that the three cultivators in the formation had killed his elder brother fifty years earlier, and Bald Monk Ni confirmed their plan to take revenge.
• Bald Monk Ni revealed that the entrance formation required three Foundation Establishment cultivators as a blood sacrifice, but Chen Changsheng said he could break it without one and demanded half the cave dwelling's gains and the enemies' possessions.
• Chen Changsheng told Li Xiuchang to capture the three cultivators while he sealed the corridor against approaching reinforcements.
• Four or five Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivators led by an Early Golden Core cultivator arrived, but Chen Changsheng's formation stopped them.
• Li Xiuchang asked the Formation Masters to dispel their formation, then knocked down the three enemies with a punch apiece, astonishing Pu Hua and the others.

Li Xiuchang and Chen Changsheng captured Sand River Sect bandits and learned that the sect secretly operated as bandit cultivators. As Elder Wu tried to divine the identity of their attacker, his divination killed him.

• Li Xiuchang collected the defeated bandits’ Storage Bags while Pu Hua and the bald cultivator sealed their Cultivation Levels and confined them in a Beast Taming Bag.
• Chen Changsheng trapped the remaining bandits in a Fourth-Tier Killing Formation, killed all but their Core Formation leader, and captured the survivor.
• Li Xiuchang tortured the Core Formation cultivator, who emerged nearly dead, but Chen Changsheng revived him and secured his confession by threatening to return him to Li Xiuchang.
• The Core Formation cultivator revealed that he belonged to the Sand River Sect, a sect that secretly practiced bandit cultivation under the protection of its Diviner Elder.
• Elder Wu attempted to divine the culprit’s identity for the Sand River Sect Master, but he died when he forced the calculation.

Li Xiuchang and Chen Changsheng helped Pu Hua and the others explore a demon cultivator’s cave dwelling, uncovering a blood-sacrifice trap that had been feeding a Blood Infant. After Chen Changsheng captured the infant, he sensed its Spirit Transformation owner near Ox Horn Ridge and planned to track him down.

• Chen Changsheng advised Pu Hua to report the Sand River Sect’s crimes to an Immortal Dust Sect disciple at Ox Horn Ridge and told him not to mention Li Xiuchang or Chen Changsheng.
• Chen Changsheng used a Golden Core Tribulation Cultivator as a blood sacrifice to break the cave dwelling’s barrier, then entered its main room with the others.
• Li Xiuchang deduced that the cave dwelling’s modest treasures were bait designed to induce explorers to perform repeated blood sacrifices for the owner.
• Chen Changsheng opened the Pill Room, Armory, and Library, finding only modest treasures, then broke the formation sealing the Cultivation Room.
• A Blood Infant burst from the Cultivation Room, and Chen Changsheng caught it and identified it as an external-incarnation tool cultivated by a Spirit Transformation demon cultivator.
• Chen Changsheng assured Pu Hua and the others that he would erase their traces, then sensed the demon cultivator near Ox Horn Ridge and resolved to pursue him.

After leaving the cave dwelling, Li Xiuchang and Chen Changsheng changed their plans and hurried to Ox Horn Ridge to pursue several leads. There, Chen Changsheng recognized a mysterious demonic beast as his runaway tortoise Steady, while Li Xiuchang followed Tang Yan toward a hidden Yin Altar.

• Pu Hua and the others refused the treasures from the cave dwelling and agreed to report Sand River Sect’s crimes at Ox Horn Ridge.
• Li Xiuchang and Chen Changsheng decided to head straight to Ox Horn Ridge to investigate the Yin Altar, meet Pu Hua, track a Blood Demonic Path cultivator, and hunt demons.
• At Ox Horn Ridge, Li Xiuchang heard about a speedy demonic beast that had destroyed formations, and Chen Changsheng realized it was his runaway tortoise Steady.
• Li Xiuchang released Tang Yan and had him lead the way to the Yin Altar while Chen Changsheng concealed himself nearby.
• Tang Yan pointed out a pile of stones as the Yin Altar’s entrance, but Li Xiuchang could not detect it with his Spiritual Sense.

Li Xiuchang uncovered an abandoned Demon Sect stronghold, let Tang Yan and Fan Liang advance to the Third Tier, then killed them and fed their souls to his other Yin Souls. As he and Senior Brother Chen Changsheng prepared to investigate the Demon Sealing Land, its seal broke, and the sects ordered everyone to flee Ox Horn Ridge and avoid a dangerous green demonic beast.

• Li Xiuchang and Tang Yan entered the hidden stronghold and discovered a Yin Altar containing Fierce Ghosts in a Soul Pillar.
• Tang Yan and Fan Liang secretly devoured Yin Souls and used Gloomy Chill Flowers to break through to the Third Tier, but the Soul Taming Seal still bound them.
• Li Xiuchang destroyed Tang Yan and Fan Liang, collected their souls in the Rainbow Soul Banner, and captured the Fierce Ghosts from the shattered Soul Pillar.
• Senior Brother Chen Changsheng suggested the Demon Sealing Land might be near the Blood Infant's Spirit Transformation-stage master, and he and Li Xiuchang set out to investigate.
• An alarm announced that the Demon Sealing Land's seal had broken and warned everyone to flee Ox Horn Ridge and avoid an unidentified green demonic beast; Senior Brother Chen Changsheng accidentally crushed the Blood Infant.

Li Xiuchang accompanied Chen Changsheng to the Demon Sealing Land, where they found the mysterious turtle fighting demonic cultivators. Chen Changsheng captured the turtle but was teleported away, leaving Li Xiuchang to accept the turtle’s offer to teach him a spell in exchange for helping it escape.

• Chen Changsheng and Li Xiuchang disguised themselves and arrived at the Demon Sealing Land, where demonic cultivators were fleeing and a green, shell-less turtle was surrounded by others.
• The demonic cultivators attacked the turtle, but its greasy green shield stopped them; Chen Changsheng flew in to capture it.
• The turtle escaped into the Demon Sealing Land, but Chen Changsheng pulled it back and bound it with seals before killing the demonic cultivators who praised him.
• The turtle broke free and struck Chen Changsheng with “Send Enemy a Thousand Miles,” teleporting him away.
• The turtle offered Li Xiuchang the demonic cultivators’ Storage Bags and promised to teach him the spell if he used it to help the turtle escape; Li Xiuchang accepted.