Chapter Summaries

Ye Jingcheng turned in his expedition spoils to the Ye Family and received Contribution Points for his ore, beast meat, artifacts, and copied cultivation materials. He claimed a Jade Scale Snake spirit beast egg, explaining that he felt the supposedly underdeveloped egg had greater potential.

• Ye Jingcheng joined the other clansmen in reporting their gains to Ye Haiyi inside the Stone Chamber.
• Ye Jingcheng submitted 3,200 jin of raw Dragon Spring Stone ore and 3,500 jin of Lush Forest Pig meat, then kept 1,000 jin of the meat for his Spirit Beasts.
• Ye Haiyi valued Ye Jingcheng's spoils and materials, bringing his Contribution Points to 2,893.
• Ye Jingcheng claimed a Jade Scale Snake spirit beast egg using Spirit Shadow points.
• Ye Jingcheng told Ye Haiyi that he felt the egg had greater potential, without revealing what he knew about it.

Ye Jingcheng tended to his injured Crimson Flame Fox and cultivated while the Ye Family rested, then traveled with the clan to Lingyun Peak. There, the Ye Family arrived alongside a Li Family vessel, and Ye Xingliu asked the Li family why they had come.

• Ye Jingcheng chose a Jade Scale Snake egg, exchanged for supplies, and agreed to help Ye Jingli obtain another spirit beast.
• Ye Haiyi warned the group to stay alert, and Ye Jingcheng healed the Crimson Flame Fox before reviewing how to avoid similar danger in the future.
• Ye Jingcheng cultivated through the night, drawing on the pure spiritual energy of the Crimson Flame Fox and Golden Scale Beast.
• Ye Haiyi ordered everyone to set out, collected their Aura Isolation Robes, and flew with the Ye Family toward Lingyun Peak.
• A Li Family spirit boat arrived at Lingyun Peak alongside the Ye Family, and Ye Xingliu asked Daoist Li what had brought him there.

Li Yulan confronted the Ye Family over the destruction of Li Mu Valley, but left after warning them to watch for Robber Cultivators and Dragon Spring Stones. Ye Jingcheng then followed Ye Haiping to the family’s Spirit Beast Valley to collect his Spirit Beast egg.

• Li Yulan accused no one directly but demanded an explanation for Li Mu Valley’s destruction, while Ye Xingliu defended the Ye Family behind its protective formation.
• Ye Xingliu sent Ye Jingcheng and Ye Jingli inside, and Li Yulan warned the Ye Family to report anyone trading large quantities of Dragon Spring Stones before departing.
• Ye Xingliu ordered the family to stay alert and prepare to receive Ye Jingteng’s senior brother.
• Ye Jingcheng went to the Treasure Building, where Ye Haiping led him past the Ancestral Hall to the family’s Spirit Beast Valley.

Ye Jingcheng visited the Ye Family’s Spirit Beast Valley and obtained a Jade Scale Snake egg, along with supplies to nurture it. After setting up a Spirit Gathering Array in his room and forming a Soul Contract with the egg, he learned that the Jade Scale Snake was hungry.

• Ye Haiping guided Ye Jingcheng through the array-filled Spirit Beast Valley, where Ye Jingcheng chose a Jade Scale Snake egg and saw Blood Leech eggs being kept in Spirit Nourishing Liquid.
• Ye Jingcheng asked Ye Haiping to exchange for a Spirit Gathering Array, a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, and High-Level Spirit Nourishing Liquid, then collected the supplies at the Treasure Building.
• Ye Jingcheng noticed Ye Jingteng and his senior brother at the Council Hall before returning to his courtyard to train the Crimson Flame Fox and Golden Scale Beast against each other.
• Ye Jingcheng set up the Spirit Gathering Array in his room, finding that Low-Grade Spirit Stones could not power it adequately and using a Water Attribute Mid-Grade Spirit Stone instead.
• Ye Jingcheng formed a Blood Pact with the Jade Scale Snake egg, which the Treasure Book transformed into a Soul Contract, and the egg conveyed that it was hungry.

Ye Jingcheng nurtured the Jade Scale Snake’s spirit egg, refined pills, and prepared for its eventual evolution. He then joined Ye Jingli at Ye Xingqun’s bamboo grove, where Ye Jingteng was also present.

• Ye Jingcheng fed the Jade Scale Snake’s spirit egg Treasure Light and placed it in a Spirit Gathering Array, then examined its evolution page and the costly pill formula it revealed.
• Ye Jingcheng restored the Golden Scale Beast and Crimson Flame Fox with Treasure Light, then refined seven Azure Spirit Pills with the fox’s help.
• The next morning, Ye Jingcheng fed the spirit egg more Treasure Light and briefly soaked it in Spirit Nourishing Liquid.
• Ye Jingli invited Ye Jingcheng to drink Green Bamboo Viper Spirit Snake wine at Ye Xingqun’s bamboo grove, and Ye Jingcheng left the Golden Scale Beast to guard the spirit egg.
• Ye Jingcheng arrived at the bamboo grove with Ye Jingli and found Ye Jingteng there.

Ye Jingteng visited Lingyun Peak and asked Ye Xingqun and Ye Xingyu to help him explore Five Poisons Mountain after he reached the Qi Refining Ninth Layer. The chapter ended with Ye Xingqun agreeing in principle but asking that Ye Jingcheng join them, while Ye Jingcheng remained unsure about the dangerous expedition.

• Ye Xingqun hosted Ye Jingcheng, Ye Jingli, Ye Jingteng, and Ye Xingyu in the Bamboo Pavilion with Spirit Wine and Lush Forest Pig meat.
• Ye Jingteng presented Jade Nectar Fruits and revealed his substantial cultivation progress, prompting Ye Jingcheng to suspect he wanted the family's help with his plans.
• Ye Jingteng explained that he aimed to reach the Qi Refining Ninth Layer and earn enough Contribution Points to contend for a Foundation Establishment Pill five years later.
• Ye Jingteng showed Ye Xingqun a jade slip and asked about Five Poisons Mountain, where Five Poisons Bees and a possible Five Poisons Forefather cave abode had been reported.
• Ye Jingteng invited Ye Xingqun and Ye Xingyu to explore Five Poisons Mountain with him after his breakthrough, offering to distribute treasures by family rules and exchange Contribution Points for materials.
• Ye Xingqun agreed conditionally and asked Ye Jingcheng to join, but Ye Jingcheng hesitated because of the danger.

Ye Jingcheng returned from the Bamboo Pavilion and spent the following months tending his spirit beasts, cultivating, and refining pills. Three months later, the Jade Scale Snake's spirit egg began to show signs of hatching.

• Ye Jingteng exchanged the group’s jade slips and urged Ye Jingcheng and Ye Jingli to work toward Foundation Establishment before departing.
• Ye Xingyu and Ye Xingqun discussed rumors of a Five Poisons Bee on Five Poisons Mountain and agreed the family should investigate it.
• Ye Jingcheng fed and trained his spirit beasts, then cultivated with the spiritual energy he had gained from wine and Jade Nectar Fruits.
• Ye Jingcheng steamed Blood Jade Spirit Rice and shared it with the Crimson Flame Fox, Golden Scale Beast, and Jade Ring Rat before placing the hungry spirit egg in Spirit Nourishing Liquid.
• Three months later, Ye Jingcheng replaced the depleted Spirit Stone in his Spirit Gathering Array as the Jade Scale Snake's spirit egg developed a larger vortex and cracks across its shell.

Ye Jingcheng welcomed a powerful Jade Scale Snake hatchling and watched his spirit beasts grow while realizing their upkeep required better income. He went to the Pill Pavilion to improve his Alchemy and found it crowded with young Ye family members beginning their studies.

• The Jade Scale Snake hatched, drank Spirit Nourishing Liquid, and reached the first rank middle grade peak after Ye Jingcheng infused it with Treasure Light.
• Ye Jingcheng shared a spirit meal with his beasts, then fed the hungry Jade Scale Snake a millstone-sized chunk of Lush Forest Pig meat.
• Ye Jingcheng decided to improve his Alchemy because raising his spirit beasts and maintaining his cultivation were straining his finances.
• Ye Jingcheng brought spirit tea to the Pill Pavilion the next morning, where he found Ye Haitian and many young members of the Jing Generation learning Alchemy.

Ye Jingcheng taught the Ye Family’s young juniors alchemy while learning from Ye Haitian how to overcome his own bottleneck. After a month of instruction, his success earned him a larger teaching role and an invitation from Ye Haiyun to observe the refinement of a second-order Barrier Breaking Pill.

• Ye Haitian asked Ye Jingcheng to guide the younger clansmen for a month in exchange for Contribution Points and advice on his alchemy bottleneck.
• Ye Haitian explained that Ye Jingcheng relied too heavily on Spirit Beasts for fire control, so Ye Jingcheng tried refining Azure Spirit Pills with Earth Fire and recorded the differences.
• Ye Jingcheng spent the month teaching the juniors and found that Jing Kuo and another student showed promise.
• At the final Grain Avoidance Pill examination, Jing Kuo refined pills successfully, six juniors made defective pills, and one produced slag.
• Ye Haiyun appointed Ye Jingcheng to teach future Ye Family newcomers for six hundred Contribution Points per session, offered him annual Contribution Points, and invited him to observe a second-order Barrier Breaking Pill refinement.

Ye Jingcheng watched Ye Haiyun refine Second-Order Barrier Breaking Pills and learned the Ye Family’s advanced pill-refining methods. Ye Haiyun shared further inheritance with him and hinted that Ye Jingcheng’s great-grandfather might be preparing to break through, leaving Ye Jingcheng to return to his courtyard and continue his cultivation and alchemy.

• Ye Haiyun used a second furnace warming method and the Four Divisions Pill Refining Method to refine two Second-Order Barrier Breaking Pills while Ye Jingcheng recorded the process.
• Ye Haiyun explained his techniques and answered Ye Jingcheng’s questions, helping him understand the pill formula and the risks of refining beyond one’s level.
• Ye Haiyun gave Ye Jingcheng the family’s pill-refining inheritance and asked him to visit the Pill Pavilion at least once every three months.
• Ye Haiyun warned Ye Jingcheng not to let pressure from Spirit Beasts distract him and hoped he would master true second-order pill refining before the family became a Purple Mansion Family.
• Ye Jingcheng asked whether his great-grandfather was preparing for a breakthrough, and Ye Haiyun confirmed it while warning that Taiyi Sect’s gathering of Alchemists and Artifact Crafters could bring trouble.
• Ye Jingcheng thanked Ye Haitian for his help, then returned to his courtyard intending to study the inheritance and improve his alchemy.

Ye Jingcheng tended his Spirit Beasts and refined pills while the Golden Scale Beast completed its advancement to Qi Training Stage 8, alongside the Crimson Flame Fox. The story left him considering a market visit for rare herbs before Ye Jingteng arrived at Lingyun Peak to meet Ye Xingqun.

• Ye Jingcheng fed the hungry Jade Scale Snake, cared for the Crimson Flame Fox, and refined five high-quality Crimson Flame Pills using the Four Divisions Pill Refining Method.
• After half a month of tending his beasts and cultivating, Ye Jingcheng watched the Golden Scale Beast advance to Qi Training Stage 8 and develop the Stone Armor Art.
• The Golden Scale Beast confronted the Jade Scale Snake, while the Crimson Flame Fox cowed the newly advanced beast with its pressure.
• Ye Jingcheng discovered a new Second-Order advancement pill formula in the Treasure Book and considered asking the family to find its rare ingredients.
• Ye Jingteng arrived at the Ye Family's Stone Bamboo Forest with a jar of fine wine and invited Ye Xingqun and Ye Xingyu to taste it.

Ye Jingteng hosted a gathering with his family, brought them spirit wine, Golden Flower Fish, and requested spiritual items, then invited them to join his trip to Five Poisons Peak for a Jade Countenance Fruit. The group planned to prepare for seven days before departing, while Ye Jingcheng received an Azure Snake Flower and a Spirit Talisman launcher for his Jade Ring Rat.

• Ye Jingteng shared Azure Wave Wine and Golden Flower Fish with Ye Xingyu, Uncle Xingqun, Ye Jingcheng, and Ye Jingli.
• Ye Jingteng gave Ye Jingcheng an Azure Snake Flower and revealed that he had learned where to find a Jade Countenance Fruit.
• Ye Xingyu and Uncle Xingqun agreed to accompany Ye Jingteng to Five Poisons Peak, and Ye Xingyu assigned preparations for their seven-day departure.
• Ye Jingcheng paid Ye Jingteng 460 Spirit Stones for the exchanged items, and Ye Jingteng recommended Taichang Market.
• Ye Jingli gave Ye Jingcheng a Spirit Talisman launcher for his Jade Ring Rat, and Ye Jingcheng gave Ye Jingli five Azure Spirit Pills.

Ye Jingcheng prepared for a trip to Five Poisons Peak, securing insect-repelling powder, an array disk, and Ye Haiyun’s Azure Heart Mirror. After refining pills and equipping his spirit beasts, he set out toward the Mount Taihang Mountain Range.

• Ye Jingcheng exchanged Contribution Points at the Treasure Pavilion for powerful insect-repelling powder, spirit herbs, and a First-Order Grade-Middle trapping array.
• Ye Haiping advised Ye Jingcheng to visit Ye Haiyun, who answered his alchemy questions and lent him the Azure Heart Mirror for the trip.
• Ye Jingcheng asked Ye Haiyun about combining three potent Spirit Herbs for Monster Beasts, then left spirit meals beneath the Spiritual Apricot Tree.
• Ye Jingcheng refined two furnaces each of Antidote Pills and Ice Purity Pills, along with a furnace of Qi Return Pills, and prepared the Jade Ring Rat with a spirit talisman launcher.
• Ye Jingcheng departed by spirit boat toward the Mount Taihang Mountain Range on a Great Frost morning.

Ye Xingyu led Ye Jingcheng, Ye Jingteng, Ye Jingli, and Uncle Xingqun into Five Poisons Peak to search for Purple Poison Thorns and other spirit resources. After they found a suitable thicket, Ye Jingcheng received a warning that cultivators were nearby, though the Jade Ring Rat could not confirm it through the miasma.

• Ye Jingcheng supplied the group with Detoxification Pills and Ice Purity Pills, then released his Jade Ring Rat to help scout Five Poisons Peak.
• Ye Jingteng told Ye Xingyu that his Taiyi Sect mission was to find high-grade Purple Poison Thorns around a hundred years old, and Ye Xingyu agreed to prioritize it.
• Ye Xingyu and Ye Jingcheng set up a killing array and a trapping array before the group climbed into the corrosive miasma.
• Uncle Xingqun detected traces left by other cultivators, and Ye Xingyu directed the group toward the peak’s drier, sunnier side to search for Purple Poison Thorns.
• The group hid their Spirit Shields from a swarm of Purple Cloud Scorpions, then reached sandy ground where Purple Poison Thorns grew.
• Ye Jingteng proposed searching the thicket’s outskirts for an isolated vine, and Ye Jingcheng received a warning that cultivators were nearby while the Jade Ring Rat remained uncertain.

Ye Jingcheng and the Ye clan cultivators harvested Purple Poison Thorns before discovering they were being ambushed by the Yongnan Duo Robbers and another hidden cultivator. They wounded the newcomer with a formation sword, but the robbers and the injured cultivator fled.

• Ye Xingyu set an offensive formation beside the Purple Poison Thorns while Ye Xingqun drew the plants out with Blackwood Ants.
• Ye Jingcheng slowed the thorns with Ice Seal Talismans and Silver Snow Needles, allowing Ye Xinghe and Ye Jingteng to cut down several hundred-year plants.
• A Jade Ring Rat alerted Ye Jingcheng to the concealed Yongnan Duo Robbers, and the Azure Heart Mirror revealed and briefly restrained them.
• The two robbers resisted the clan’s attacks with Gold Wood Shields, spirit talismans, and other artifacts while the group also fought off the Purple Poison Thorns.
• Ye Jingcheng’s Jade Ring Rat detected another attacker, and Ye Xingyu activated the formation, severing the Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivator’s arm.
• The wounded cultivator and the Yongnan Duo Robbers fled.

Ye Jingcheng and Ye Jingli defeated the one-armed robber cultivator and found a jade slip suggesting the ambush had been planned. They hurried to intercept the Yongnan Duo Robbers, who were fleeing toward the Purple Cloud Scorpions’ nest, and learned the pursuers would arrive in about thirty breaths.

• Ye Jingcheng, Ye Jingli, and their spirit beasts pursued the fleeing one-armed cultivator while Ye Jingteng, Ye Xingyu, and Ye Xingchen chased the Yongnan Duo Robbers.
• The one-armed cultivator struck Ye Jingcheng and the others with a rattle drum and Dark Shadow Needle, but Ye Jingcheng’s Jade Scale Snake deflected the needle and his spirit beasts helped pin the robber down.
• Ye Jingcheng trapped the one-armed cultivator with an Earth Spike Art and killed him with a Fireball, then searched nearby and found a buried jade slip.
• Ye Jingcheng urged Ye Jingli to help their uncles, and they hurried through the Tri-Color Miasma toward the Yongnan Duo Robbers.
• Ye Jingli revealed that the robbers were fleeing toward the Purple Cloud Scorpions’ nest, so Ye Jingcheng used a route map and Swift Steps Talismans to move ahead and intercept them.
• Ye Jingli sensed that the robbers would arrive in about thirty breaths as the pair reached a flat stretch near the giant dead tree where the Purple Cloud Scorpions gathered.

Ye Jingcheng and Ye Jingli used Insect Repellent Powder to evade the spirit insects in the Tri-Color Miasma, then joined Ye Xingyu and the others in killing the Yongnan Duo Robbers. The group escaped Five Poisons Peak after realizing Ye Jingteng’s mission had been a trap, and Ye Jingcheng activated a trapping array at the perimeter.

• Ye Jingcheng used the Hidden Spirit Armor and Second-Order High-Grade Insect Repellent Powder to keep spirit insects away while he and Ye Jingli waited in the Tri-Color Miasma.
• Ye Xingqun recognized the Purple Cloud Scorpions’ scent and urged Ye Jingteng and Ye Xingyu to attack the Yongnan Duo Robbers before they could set up an array.
• Ye Jingcheng’s attacks and the others’ sword strikes overwhelmed the robbers, killing the thin-faced cultivator first and the broad-faced cultivator soon after.
• Ye Jingcheng handed the robbers’ Storage Bags to Ye Xingyu, and Ye Xingqun led the group away from Five Poisons Peak as dangerous spirit insects stirred behind them.
• Ye Jingli realized Ye Jingteng’s mission had been a trap meant to weaken the Ye Family’s influence in the Taiyi Sect, and Ye Jingcheng activated a trapping array after the group reached the outer perimeter.

After escaping Five Poisons Peak, the five Ye family cultivators returned to Lingyun Peak and discussed Ye Jingteng’s dangerous sect mission before dividing their spoils. They agreed to help Ye Jingteng claim the Purple Poison Thorns and robber heads for his Foundation Establishment goal, then began distributing the remaining treasures.

• The five Ye cultivators reached Lingyun Peak after escaping a powerful Tricolor Spider, and Ye Xingyu warned Ye Jingteng to be cautious about the sect missions.
• At Stone Bamboo Forest, Ye Jingteng said he did not know why his mission had been so dangerous, while Ye Jingli suspected the Li Family had influenced the assignments.
• Ye Xingyu and the others agreed Ye Jingteng could keep the Purple Poison Thorns and the Yongnan Duo Robbers’ heads, and Ye Jingteng offered Dharma Artifacts and other gifts in return.
• The group inventoried the spoils, including valuable Dharma Artifacts, an attack-array disk, Earth Escape Talismans, and viable Five Poisons Bee pupae.
• Ye Xingyu set the shares, and Ye Xingqun chose the bee pupae, Ye Jingcheng chose the Soul Startling Drum, and Ye Xingyu chose a Gold Wood Shield.

After the treasure spoils were divided, Ye Jingcheng presented his theory that the Mo Family had interfered with Ye Jingteng’s chance to compete for a Foundation Establishment Pill. The Ye Family planned its response and warned its members away from hostile territory, while Ye Jingcheng later visited Ye Haiyun to report his successful return and receive a gift for becoming a First-Order Peak Alchemist.

• Ye Jingli chose the Gold Wood Shield, and Ye Xingyu and Ye Jingcheng took their shares of the remaining treasures before Ye Xingqun kept the rest.
• After the family members shared wine, Ye Jingteng departed to return to the sect and compete for a Foundation Establishment Pill in two years.
• At the Ye Family Inner Hall meeting, Ye Jingcheng argued that the Mo Family, rather than the Xu Family, was behind the restrictions on Ye Jingteng’s sect missions.
• Ye Haiyun ordered the family to make its stance known, send White Fox-type Spirit Beasts to the sect, and avoid areas infiltrated by the Li, Chen, and Xu Families.
• Ye Jingcheng visited Ye Haiyun and offered him the Azure Heart Mirror and other items, but Ye Haiyun returned them as a gift celebrating Ye Jingcheng’s alchemy achievement.
• Ye Jingcheng presented Red Fragrance Tea, a Red Joint Fish, and Red Jade Spirit Rice to Ye Haiyun.

Ye Jingcheng shared a meal with Ye Haiyun, received notes on refining the First-Order Grade-High Spirit Nurturing Pill, and began restoring and binding a swarm of Five Poisons Bees. He ended the night studying the pill formula while considering the resources needed for his Spirit Beasts and cultivation.

• Ye Haiyun criticized the Red Fragrance Tea and Two Joint Red Joint Fish, then gave Ye Jingcheng his notes on refining the First-Order Grade-High Spirit Nurturing Pill.
• Ye Jingcheng returned to his courtyard and used Treasure Light and Blood Pacts to restore and control the queen and nine other Five Poisons Bees.
• Ye Jingcheng fed the bees Spirit Feeding Pills and Spirit Honey, then worried about finding enough Poison Flowers to sustain their growth.
• Ye Jingcheng fed his four Spirit Beasts and considered how the Jade Scale Snake's breakthrough could help him reach Qi Training Stage 8.
• Ye Jingcheng sat beneath the moonlight and studied Ye Haiyun's jade slip on the high-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill.